The Harvest
by 11thCommandment
Summary: When a new crew come together in preparation for their next mission, destiny awaits... [Sequel: 'Second Harvest']
1. The Harvest

**Chapter One: The Selection**

"One last thing to complete our introduction, ladies and gentlemen-" The Captain smiled widely at his new crew and let the moment last... "Choose your weapon."

They had been introduced the day before and, as was tradition, today was The Festival of the Gods for each ship before they set off on their elected operations.

The containers had been placed in size order. Tallest on the left: shortest on the right. Just like good soldiers.

The First Officer walked forward, placed a hand on his follower's shoulder and led her to the 'Quadruped cylinder'.

The cylinder immediately began to react, a line of moisture running down its side until it dripped onto the floor. A mechanical hand dropped down from the ceiling and carried the cylinder into an adjoining room; one of six secure rooms where the harvests would take place.

The 'Follower' walked almost catatonically into the room. Her god's hand ushered her forward until she was safely on the other side of the door, which closed, giving a satisfying clunk as it shut, the deadlocks securing it well.

"Thank you, Number One." Said the Captain. "It's been a while since the Quadruped triumphed."

The First Officer shrugged, "I just like the thing. I like its claws when it rips out of the belly and starts tearing the place apart."

The other crew members nodded in agreement and appreciation.

"Next." The Captain nodded towards the Logistics Officer.

There were five containers left: There was an enclosed, dark blue Venturi with a lattice network of veins around it; a small, handless cup with a yellow lid; a large, glass cylinder, in which swam a thin aquatic creature that resembled an eel; a large, ominous looking egg with a crossed groove on the top; and finally, a gelatinous looking pearlescent blob resting on a metallic plate that arced electricity around the entity's form.

The Logistics Officer put her hand on the back of her follower's head and pushed her forcefully towards the handless cup. "Pick up the cup, cattle." She said disdainfully.

The female walked to the cup, picked it up carefully in both hands and walked into the next available room. Again, the door closed and deadlocked behind her.

The Captain eyed the logistics officer closely as she walked back in line. "Interesting."

The Logistics Officer stayed silent.

"Your Follower has obviously something resolute hidden. Good becomes great, as they say."

"I tested its physiology yesterday, Captain. It has an incredible metabolic rate. There's a chance of instant regeneration against acid wounds." Said the Logistics Officer determinedly.

The other officers looked at each other and murmured enviously.

Four officers were now remaining, each with their Followers stood before them. Before them stood the four containers, each with the potential to destroy a world- their sole reason for being.

Next container to go was the glass cylinder, followed by the Venturi, leaving just the large egg and the gelatinous blob.

"So, gents, we have just the Xenomorph and the Polymorph remaining. Which one will be chosen next?" His smile was broad. He couldn't remember the last time the Xenomorph was picked last. In fact, he was sure it had never happened before. It was always picked first or second. This was an interesting- or insanely naive crew he had been assigned for his next mission. "Step forward, Wepps."

The Weapons Officer grabbed his follower by the shoulder with a firm hand and led him towards the two remaining choices. "Which one do you want, little one? Which one do you want?"

The other officers laughed at the comedy of it. An immortal talking to an insect. It was absurd. You had to enjoy moments like this.

The much shorter biped flinched away from his god. The god was speaking to him, but he knew that direct words or eye contact from him could cause instant death... or so the mythology went.

The Weapons Officer pointed at the two objects and spoke again. "Use your formidable mind."

It was an honour for any follower to be chosen for Harvest, but to be touched by his god, let alone spoken to by him was almost overwhelming. The laughter from the competing gods was booming and the smaller man could no longer hold himself. He felt the warmth of the liquid as it ran down his leg and onto his foot.

Wepps sniffed the air for a second and looked around before his eyes checked beneath him. He pulled the follower back and looked at the growing puddle on the floor.

The laughter from the other officers filled the room and the minion cowered away from them further still. He was just thankful his bladder was finally empty so he could stop pissing.

The Captain could not help but laugh at this. It happened. _The cattle feared their gods_. This was hard for them. It would be funny to see what the Weapons Officer did next.

He didn't have to wait long for his reaction.

The giant put one hand on the Follower's shoulder and another on his head before lifting him up and smashing him back down, face first onto the mess he had made on the floor, the creature's blood mixing with the urine and causing a mixture of thick red and transparent green liquids around the circumference of the body. "Bastard. Pissed on my foot." Said the officer.

The First Officer clapped his hands, "Yeah, and you smashed his face in. Looks like you chose the Polymorph, Wepps. Face-huggers need a face after all."

The Weapons Officer looked from his superior down at the motionless mess on the floor. "You little bastard." He said at the dead body. "I wanted the Xenomorph. This was to be my victory." He looked at the Logistics Officer. "Never had a Xenomorph before. It was all mine." He sounded like a sullen child.

He raised his foot and stamped down on the wretch's head, crushing it into the rough, black floor. "Little pissy bastard." He growled beneath his breath. "Give me the Polymorph then... give me the blob."

Two mechanical claws came down, one for the arcing plate on which rested the blob, and the other grabbing the follower round the waist, carrying him into the penultimate vacant room.

The Weapon's Officer stood back in line and shook his head.

The Captain tried to make him feel better: "Being dead is no obstacle for the mass." He referred to the blob which lay contained within the electric field. "It is of little consequence to the Polymorph... no matter how dead he is. The blob will bring him right back. Might makes right. Extra vicious!"

The Navigator patted him on the shoulder in solidarity. "Relax, brother. You'll get another chance... maybe in the next century" He joked. Wepps did not see the humour.

The Captain smiled avuncularly and looked at the final officer. "Come on then, newby... looks like your lucky day. Just a shame for you you're sacrifice is so tiny."

The Stores Officer stepped forward and tapped the figure before him on the shoulder, who flinched and looked up at him fearfully. In her hands was a large, round shape. "Go get your prize, hybrid." He said to her.

She couldn't understand his words. "What does he want, David?" She looked down at what remained of the artificial human.

"I believe he wants you to claim your treasure. Would you be so kind as to point me in the direction of the treasure about which he speaks? My dexterity isn't what it once was." Said David pleasantly.

Elizabeth shuffled David's head around so he could see the Xenomorph egg.

The 'Engineers' behind her were talking boisterously and laughing at this.

It had been about a week since Elizabeth and David had arrived in the Engineer's solar system and had been intercepted before they could get to within a thousand million miles of their destination. They had been directed almost immediately into captivity and spent the time since then incarcerated with a number of voiceless humanoids with very little anima.

Her captors had allowed her to keep David with her as a sort of comforter. It was like she was their pet and David was her bone. Let her keep it.

"I believe, contained within the egg, is an obligate parasite like the one that grew inside you." David informed her. "From what I could discern from the alien's conversation to this point, you are to be a living sacrifice in some kind of celebration. They see you as chattel. Slave. As far as I can understand."

Elizabeth spoke quietly, an unnecessary instinct in the company of the Engineers. "Inside the egg is the same creature?"

"Not the same, I would contend, but something with similar life goals."

Elizabeth could feel her legs begin to shake and her body go limp.

"They want us to go into a room and wait for it to emerge." Said David.

Elizabeth could hear her voice tremble as she spoke, "And wait for it to kill me."

"I would postulate so." Said David. "I don't think its purpose is to suffocate, however, but to inject an aggressive life-form inside you, which will battle with the resultant offspring of the other sacrifices in a gladiatorial tournament."

Elizabeth knew it was pointless to be sarcastic with David. He merely saw all this as the accumulation of new knowledge. Her response was brusque nonetheless: "Thank you, David. I just wish it was you instead of me."

"Thank you, Elizabeth. I envy you."

The Stores Officer pushed her forward towards the final room and she followed the mechanical hand as it carried the large black egg ahead of her.

As she entered, the door closed behind her and the lights went out. It was all she could do not to fall to the floor and weep. These were probably going to be her final moments of life. Alone, in the dark, thousands of light-years from home and from anyone who ever loved her.

She held on to David tightly, though she had almost forgotten he was there. Her fingers ran through his hair and she pulled him to her chest as she moved back towards the wall.

There was only silence.

And blackness.

And fear.

It was another minute before the silence was broken. A sucking sound came from the direction of the egg, followed by an intake of breath.

With this the ambient lighting rose to show the oblong in the middle of the room, now looking more like an open, grey bud.

Elizabeth tried to focus her attention on movement. Her night vision was usually quite strong and being immersed in pitch black for a minute had helped. She tried to move further away from the pod, creeping slowly along the wall, her feet shuffling beneath her.

She reached the corner and could go no further where she tried to compose herself in readiness for action.

One deep intake of breath, followed by a long steady exhale, concentrating on stopping her body from shaking.

Another deep breath followed by a longer, slower exhale. She felt as though she was beginning to take some control of her body.

She breathed in deeply once more-

There was movement! She saw something move on top of the opening of the egg.

Was it fingers she saw? She could not tell.

She continued to control her breathing as the fingers rapped on the petals and dragged its thick body out behind it.

This was it. This was the end of her life. She was sure. There was no way of avoiding this. No white knights and no second chances.

She held her breath, pulled David close and allowed a tear to fall down her cheek.


	2. The Feast

**Chapter Two: The Feast**

_Today, the first day of a new assignment, was always a good day. The Harvest was over, now came the feast. After the feast came The Games. The Games would give them a winner and then the mission would be on. There would be much violence and bloodshed to come, but for now they allowed themselves to set their minds to something far more civilised and mundane. They would ignore the pain and mortal fear being experienced on the lower decks. The lives of the inferior life-forms being of no significance to them in any way._

The six crew members approached the table for the pre-Games feast. The chosen ones were below decks on their way to becoming something much more formidable. This was time for the crew to become better acquainted and fill their stomachs. The tournament would last a few hours at the very least.

The Captain sat, which gave permission for the others to do likewise. He opened his arms at the food before them as though this was indeed a banquet to behold. "Eat everyone. Please."

"Thank you, Captain." They said as one.

"Call me Baal. We are family now. This adventure before us will be long. Captain is too formal for such a long time."

"Yeah, but don't piss him off, Newby," The Navigator was looking at the youngest of their crew, "or he'll feed you to the Followers. Then it _will_ be a 'Festival of the Gods'."

They all laughed with a boundless air. The first day of the mission was always freeing. It was feeling of liberation to be enjoyed.

"Thank you, Nav." The Captain appreciated good cheer. "Come on then: let's have the introductions. I'm not going by rank every time I want to address you. You- Newby. What's your name? Tell us something about yourself."

The youngster stood, but was told to sit immediately. Feasts were not formal occasions. "Apologies. I'm used to the academy."

"No academy here, crewman. I told you: we're family."

The young Stores Officer smiled gratefully. He had been told this was the way it was in the 'real' universe, but it was one thing to be told something and another to find it to be true. "My name is Yeshua. I'm in command of stores, though I hope one day to become Weapons Officer"

The others enjoyed this and jabbed the current Weapons Officer playfully.

"After your position, Wepps." Said the Logistics Officer, not without a touch of competitiveness in her voice.

Yeshua continued, "But ultimately, I'd like to be sitting where you are Captain- I mean, Baal. Sorry."

Baal smiled at him, "And one day, you may find yourself in my seat. Better to be the jockey than the steed."

The others agreed.

"And tell me something about yourself. Who you are." Probed the Captain.

"Well, I'm 24-"

Yeshua was almost shocked by the response he got for saying this. The other crew members apparently couldn't _remember_ when they were 24 themselves.

"24?" One asked.

"That's right. I know I'm young, but-"

"Tell him how old you are, Wepps." Said Logistics.

"50." Answered Wepps.

Yeshua knew there would be some ancient fellows aboard and so allowed them to have their fun.

"Hundred, or thousand?" Asked the Navigator.

"Thousand." Confirmed Wepps.

Yeshua nodded and smiled. 50,000 was no age, really. There were many in his family who had stopped counting when it became too cumbersome to use the word million in their answer. "My uncle is about that age. He's in the Senate. Senator Balaam."

"Balaam?" asked the Captain curiously. "Isn't he the odd fellow with the age issue?"

Yeshua nodded. "He allows himself to look old. Says it fits him better. I've never known him any other way."

"Body dysmorphia." The Logistics Officer contributed. "Had a philosopher on a previous mission who had it. Had no right hand. He didn't like having two hands, he said."

"Hermes." Said Baal. "Yes, I knew him. We were working on Ripple technology at the time. Long time ago." He remembered. "But it wasn't two hands he didn't want. It was just his right hand. He felt it wasn't right... to have a right hand." He pondered this for a moment. "Still, it takes all sorts. Just like Newby Yeshua's Uncle Balaam."

They all laughed, including Yeshua. He was just happy he was fitting in.

"So, tell me your names, so we can continue without the reference to rank. It's annoying me."

"I'm Logistics. Name of Asherah."

"Weapons. Kane."

"Navigator. My name's Peter."

And the last one to introduce himself was the First Officer: "I'm the Captain's First Officer. Odin."

"Good." The Captain judged. "Baal, Odin, Kane, Asherah, Peter and young Yeshua. The names of true gods. This will be a good voyage." He looked at Odin, his First Officer. "How long, Number One?" And looked at the man's executive compendium sitting on the table.

Odin tapped the purple disc, which lay next to his plate revealing a display which only he could see. "It's been just over half an hour, sir. Seeding is well underway by now I fancy."

"Should we call it two hours before The Games begin?"

The people around the table had no objections. All was going well. Let it go with the flow.

"So," Baal looked at Kane, "50,000... you must've seen some things in your time. Me- I'm just short of a half million and I've never seen a Supernova first hand. Can you believe that? Tell, us about yourself, Wepps."

The feast continued in good spirits. On the deck below, the Followers all lay unconscious, dead, or in a state of metamorphosis... all except one. In the end room, Elizabeth sat still in the corner. She had not moved since the face-hugger had attacked. Now the creature lay motionless on the floor beside David, its objective complete.


	3. The Seeding

**Chapter Three: The Seeding**

The thing had crawled onto the edge of the pod and prepared to launch itself towards its target. A creature of pure instinct. Locate the mouth. Grasp the head. Insert proboscis. Inject seed.

Elizabeth started to tremble again despite her best efforts not to. "Help me, David."

"A fascinating creature, Elizabeth. This is most intriguing."

"Please, David." She didn't care if she sounded desperate. She had seen the life-form that had come out of her. She had seen how it had grown. And she had seen what it did to the Engineer- the terror in his eyes.

"I have no torso, Elizabeth. My physical abilities are limited. You may be on your own, I'm sorry to say."

For the first time, Elizabeth heard compassion in David's voice. His programmers had obviously done their job well on this occasion.

David's voice was staid: "Protect your face, Elizabeth. I wish you luck."

Elizabeth thought to say, no shit Sherlock, and thanks for nothing, but this was just a feeling that ran through her mind that had no time to be given words to. The face-hugger leapt and became airborne.

For Elizabeth, the scene was in slow-motion. Despite the shadowy lighting, she could see everything about its anatomy. The fingers; the tail; the injector... but no eyes. Where were the eyes? _Wait till you see the whites of the eyes _was the expression.

No whites here.

No eyes.

Nothing.

Then David's words in her head: _Protect your face_

She closed her eyes and lifted David up in front of her.

She felt the impact as his head jerked back and the whip of the animal's tail against her own neck as it tried to wrap around David's. The fingers tightened over the top of her hands and she had to tug hard to release herself from it.

As her hand slipped out, David's head fell to the floor and the creature's tail made one last effort to tighten and ended by wrapping it under his open neck and vertically up over David's head until the tip ended at his forehead.

Elizabeth waited for it to drop off him and begin its attack again. It was another twenty seconds before she realised she wasn't breathing and that there would be no second attack.

"Shit." She exhaled. She stood and walked around the coupling as though it was something weird that had crashed down from the sky and just missed her. "Shit."

The thing was revolting. A piquant yellow is how she would have described its colour. Scientifically she would probably have been in awe, but right now, science was taking a back seat to survival.

"Elizabeth?" David's voice, much quieter than normal.

"David? Are you... what's...?" This was a new paradigm. Her brain was still playing catch-up.

"It has an appendage inserted into my mouth. I'll project my voice from my auditory canal. There will be reduced volume. I hope you don't mind." The sound was coming from his ear holes. His voice was not produced using air moving over his voice-box; it was an electronic speaker inside his head. His mouth was mostly there for realism when projecting his words.

"David..." Elizabeth was still searching. She was hoping the words would come to her.

"This is quite fascinating. I believe its attempting to feed me oxygen to keep me alive. One moment..." There was air in the conversation while he processed data. "There's a chemical in my oesophageal canal. I believe it's a neural inhibitor. A paralysing agent. Rather ingenious, don't you think?"

She still couldn't take in what was happening. All she could express was gratitude right now. "Thank you, David. You saved me."

"It was just my face. You did the all the hard work. I can sense a substance being ejaculated into my throat. Give me a second to analyse its structure." Said David matter-of-factly.

Elizabeth kept her distance but continued to orbit the animal. It had two large flaps of skin, which hung round the side of David's face. From the breathing motion, she deduced this was where the lungs were located, though she could see no mouth or breathing holes. A miracle of bio-engineering was the oxymoron that came to her.

"It's a protein."Came David's muffled voice. "I believe it's trying to seed me."

"Seed you?" Asked Elizabeth.

"Yes." Replied David and paused for a moment. "If I may make a postulation, I believe this is a transitory parasite. Its purpose being to impregnate a viable host to give birth to another creature. The being wrapped around my cranium is, in essence, a parthenogenic vessel requiring an incubator and food source."

"You're a womb." Observed Elizabeth incredulously.

"It would appear."

Elizabeth didn't want to say it now that David had saved her, but what the hell: "Ironic. It wasn't long ago you wished _me_ congratulations for being with child, remember?"

"Quite." David agreed.

Elizabeth considered the situation. She was in an enclosed room, on an alien spaceship, thousands of light-years from Earth, with a crew whose only purpose for you was to be a human incubator for a biological monster.

Her options were limited.

She reached for the cross hanging round her neck. The faith she'd had a week previous, had now taken a beating and she had reconsidered her feelings on the subject. But it gave her comfort. Her parents were contained in the essence of the religious symbol and she needed their strength right now.

Of course, the chain had been taken when the aliens took her and David. They'd let her keep the technologically advanced head-on-a-string, but taken the trinket. They'd obviously noticed it as being a false idol. 'No other gods before me' was not just an earth-bound dogma.

"You should conserve your energy, Elizabeth. This may be attached for quite some time. I believe Fyfield's transformation took a couple of hours. As advanced as this race of beings is, they still have to obey the laws of physics and biological metamorphosis." Said David.

"If it's okay by you, I don't think I'll be relaxing while that thing is stuck on your face."

"Of course." Said David. "With your permission I'll switch to 'power-save' mode for a while. The process of impregnation seems to be complete. The seed has settled in place, unfertilised, and the parasite is producing a steady stream of oxygen."

"Okay, David. Reactivate if anything changes."

"Right-ho, Elizabeth. Goodnight."

Elizabeth continued to pace slowly. _She_ would not be going on 'power-save'. She'd be maintaining her high alert state for a good while to come.

She paced like a caged lion and watched for any movement.

From David's decapitated neck came the subtle sound of air escaping. Elizabeth shuddered.

While the crew introduced themselves to each other and while Elizabeth feared for her life, in the rooms adjoining hers, unheard to anyone outside their walls, the agonised screaming began.


	4. The Invitation

**Chapter Four: The Invitation**

Elizabeth had been stood silently, leaning against the wall, not for a second taking her eyes from the union of David and his mate. _How did you know it would try to grab my face, David? Animals go for the neck or the eyes. _Was he privy to knowledge she wasn't? Was he in on all this?

She shook her head vigorously. When paranoid delusion set in, that was when it's time to stop asking questions in your head, and start asking questions outside of it.

"How did you know, David?"

"About our new friend?" He responded.

"Yes. How did you know to tell me?"

"It was merely deduction, postulation and reasoning. The means to protect you physically were beyond me."

"But how did you know to warn me?"

"One shouldn't school our grandmothers on the technique for sucking eggs, Elizabeth."

"You don't have a grandmother, David." Said Elizabeth sarcastically.

"And so I went for the teachings of Sun Tzu."

"Sun Tzu?" She quizzed. "'The Art of War'?"

"Just so. 'Know your enemy'. You had described the attack of the animal that saved you from the Engineer and I had heard the crew's comments."

"Comments?"

"When the short-tempered Weapons Officer murdered the Follower, as they call them. He destroyed his face. One of the crew mentioned 'facium-presidio': Face grabber. The path of logic from that point was accurate."

Elizabeth was almost giddy at David's ability to assess the situation so thoroughly. Without him, she'd be in a much worse condition.

"Elizabeth?" David sounded concerned.

"Yes?"

"It seems the supply of oxygen has ceased. The creature may be ready to release itself from me. You should prepare yourself."

There was nowhere for her to go, and so all she could do was react to the face-hugger's actions.

David gave a running commentary of his observations: "The proboscis has retracted, Elizabeth. The grip around my head is loosening. I feel it moving away. Are you ready, Elizabeth?"

His words seemed comical. It was as though she was in kindergarten and preparing to play hide and seek. The release of adrenaline into her bloodstream caused her to giggle momentarily. "I'm ready, David." Now shut up and let me concentrate.

The fingers moved slowly and the tail unwrapped itself. Very lethargically, the parasite began to crawl from David's uncovered head and towards the wall. David's face was pointed in the same direction as the thing's trek, but not a word was said between himself and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was stood prone. She looked like an amateur wrestler waiting for the order to begin grappling.

As it touched the wall, its strength seemed to dissipate and its body relaxed into the floor. There was a second's pause before David spoke, "I believe it's dead. I can see no signs of respiration."

"Are you sure?" Asked Elizabeth nervously.

"I'm sure I can see no signs of respiration." Said David.

Elizabeth wanted to tell him not to be facetious, but knew she knew he had a penchant for pedantry and precision.

"As for my surety about its demise: that is less definite." David finished.

Elizabeth didn't move. She could feel her breathing had become heavy. "What should I do, David?"

David's response variables searched for the best answer. There were two suggestions. One was from a 21st century sit-com starring an old black comedian giving advice to a younger man: "I think you should grow a pair of balls and stop acting 'a bitch", was this option. He went for the other. "Courage comes from within, Elizabeth. Find the courage and the answers will come."

Her laughter shocked David. He would have expected laughter from the other comment had his 'refinement protocols' allowed him to say it, not this one.

Elizabeth leaned against the wall until the laughter subsided. She sighed as she regained control and wiped a tear away from her eyes. "Thank you, David. You both inspire me and make me want to vomit."

"You may want to sit down until the feeling desists." He offered.

"Thank you, David, but I'll stand while that thing is in here."

The next two hours seemed like an eternity as she watched for movement. Whatever the crew members wanted, she was powerless to stop them and so gave little thought to their intentions. In the meantime, David recounted and translated verbatim their conversations between each other while Elizabeth and the Followers had been waiting to be coupled with their objects of destruction.

Her eyes had become well accustomed to the poor lighting and she had even been confident enough to approach the face-hugger, tentatively, and kicked it over onto its back. Its legs had curled over like a dead spider's. It was the ugliest monster she had ever seen.

"A sound." Said David and with that, a door, that had till now gone unnoticed, opposite the one they entered, opened and a light-blue strip-light on the wall illuminated the corridor outside. It seemed to be them where to go.

Elizabeth leant forward, not moving from the wall, and tried to see what was on the other side of the door.

"What's happened, Elizabeth?"Asked David. "May I see?"

Without taking her eyes away from the doorway, she crouched down and picked up David's head, pointing it towards the door.

"This _is_ interesting." Said David.

"I'm going to disagree with you on that." Replied Elizabeth. "This is terrifying."

'_Grow some balls'_, came the suggested response, though, once again, he stayed reticent to voice it. "The words aren't antonyms, Elizabeth. Terrifyingly interesting, we could say."

"Shut up, David. This is just terrifying."

With David in her hands, she made her way to the middle of the room to get a better look at what was outside. "What do you think is down there?"

"I have very little information with which to base my answer."

"Maybe they're letting us go." Joked Elizabeth. "What do you think? Maybe there's warm food and a spaceship waiting for us. Maybe this time next week, we'll be lying on a beach in the Seychelles, drinking a margarita. What do you think about that? It's feasible, right?"

"If I had to make a guess, based on all that's happened to this point..."

Elizabeth did not want to hear David's best guess. She knew there'd be no meal, spaceship or beach in the Seychelles at the end of this guess, let alone a margarita.

David continued, "I'd say, waiting for us at the end of the corridor, would be five very disagreeable fellows indeed."

Elizabeth went cold. "Not the Followers, you don't think?"

"Not as we remember them, Elizabeth, no."

Elizabeth moved away from the door walking backwards. It was only when her foot touched the dead face-hugger that she realised just how petrified she actually was that she had forgotten about it.

"I'm afraid I have scant offerings by way of an advisable course of action." Said David.

"Well," Said Elizabeth. "If I was a disagreeable fellow... looking for some action... I think an open door would be an invitation."

"And going along with your analogy, Elizabeth, do we want to accept that invitation?"

"I think," Elizabeth gulped. Her mouth had suddenly become very dry, "I think, what I need to do is grow a pair of balls and look for a way out of here. What do you think?"

"I think, taking an aggressive course of action has got you where you are today," David said, causing Elizabeth to smile, "and as it is in your nature to do so, I believe there is no reason not to have a wander."

"Okay." Said Elizabeth and she made her way towards the open door and the lighted corridor. "But if I see another monster, I'm blaming you, okay?"

"I think, under the circumstances, blame would make very little difference to the proceedings." Said David.

As Elizabeth crossed the threshold, the door closed behind her leaving the relative safety of the room behind her and the unknown before her.


	5. The Bonding

**Chapter Five: The Bonding**

The six crew members had gorged themselves. Kane had decided to make his own a liquid feast and detoxify once Baal gave him the order to do so. In the last half hour his demeanour had escalated from noisy, to raucous. His outbursts at the superiority of their species had gone from patriotic to fascist in the blink of an eye and before they knew it, he had broken into a millennial song about exacting justice on heretics.

Baal waited for him to finish the song before giving the order for him to self-administer sobriety fix.

Asherah decided she'd wait for him to imbibe the detoxifier before she launched into her own tirade about the subjection of lesser humanoids.

Kane belched after spraying the atomiser into his mouth. "Three. Two. One. Sober, Captain."

"Good man, Wepps."

"And we will crush them under our heels." Began Asherah. "We will feed them to the Polymorphs, and the Xenomorphs, and the Slashers... and the Zombies will break them in two, and the skies will rain acid until their genetic structure is nothing more than fertiliser and their loins..."

She continued for a good ten minutes, all the while, her crewmates smiled and nodded in emphatic agreement. The fact her rant was focussed against no specific race, was neither here nor there. What was essential was that the universe, by default, was inferior. All other arguments to the contrary were worthy of vexation and contempt.

They applauded as her vitriolic extemporisation reached denouement, their encouragement rising in volume as she reached her climax.

"... and I pledge to you all here present, that by the immortality of my infinite soul, I shall never relent while alien seed stands without structure and rule."

"Bravo, Asherah. Bravo." The Captain rapped his knuckles on the table in unwavering concord. He was becoming quite fond of his new crew. They showed spirit and vigour.

Kane leaned back in his seat and took in a deep, invigorating breath. These were the kind of words that spoke to his inner berserker. The indoctrination and gene manipulation of his species had a predilection to this rather unhealthy disposition. "Yes." He said to himself.

"And how about you, young Yeshua?" Asked Odin. "What are your thoughts? What are the things that permeate the unformed mind?"

Yeshua felt uncomfortable about the question. The First Officer's face was stony. There was little expression to pick up on. It was only as he was about to open his mouth that his panic was disarmed by Odin's laughter; a booming discharge that infected the others- even Kane.

"Tell us-" Said Peter, "what are the words of the unfettered youth?"

Yeshua stood. It was a habit he was finding hard to displace. The Academy had lasted seven years, and not standing when addressing seniors was a serious infraction. "My thoughts are- well, I have an agenda-"

Odin looked at Baal. He was impressed. "An 'agenda', Captain. It seems Young Yeshua will one day become 'Senator' Yeshua. Or maybe even-"

Before he could finish his prognostication, Yeshua completed it: "'Leader' Yeshua. Yes, it is my intention to work hard to achieve seniority and rank in the Force, but with the guidance of my strong crewmates, peers, if I may call you it- my family... our illustrious and indefatigable and indominitable-" he blinked as he searched for the correct pronunciation, "'in-dom-i-table'- Captain Baal..." He bowed shallowly but reverently towards the man at the head of the table, "... with the example of our senate, including Balaam, my dear uncle, I believe I have the fire and the zeal and the zest within me to become a Leader and take rule over the barbaric sentients of lesser worlds."

Yeshua stood with raised chin and puffed out chest. The only thing missing was a noble finger pointing yonder to the future and they could have started chiselling his statue right then and there.

He waited nervously, never allowing his intense visage to slip.

It was Kane who drove the laudation.

"Yes." Clapped Kane. "Yes."

"Yes." Agreed Odin, joining in with the applause.

Their monosyllabic support, quickly became an ovation.

"Yes!" They all cheered. "Bravo!"

Yeshua consolidated his position with almost egregious immodesty, "Thank you, all. Thank you, my family. Thank you, brothers and sister."

This was warmly accepted by the others: "Thank you, our future." They said. And: "Thank you, our prodigal brother."

This surely was the greatest moment of Yeshua's life. He had watched his uncle closely and learned how to manipulate and control the crowds well. He savoured the reverie.

As the air settled, they sat down and finished what food and drink they had remaining.

"Captain," Said Odin troubled, looking at his compendium disc, "the Xenomorph."

"Yes. What about it, Number One?" There was concern in his voice. "Don't tell me it hasn't reached maturity yet? They didn't supply us with a queen, did they?" This third question giving rise to agitation.

"No, sir. It hasn't seeded. The hybrid female is in the presentation duct."

The Captain took out his own disc, before quickly putting it back on his thigh reticule. "Hologram it."

A few dexterous taps of his disc, Odin brought up a hologram that rose over the table in a shower of pixels. As he did this, he took the chance to clear what was left of the feast, the remaining items gliding towards the centre of the table, before conflating downwards.

The image over the table was perplexing. Six creatures waited in their ducts, none able to sense the presence of the other. Five of the animals crouched motionless, ready to ambush anything that approached. The other stood hunched over with a 300I.Q. head in her hands, looking from side to side as she stood anxiously just a few feet away from the door.

The crew looked at their captain while he considered his options.

"We could allow her in with the others." Offered Peter, the most taciturn of the six officers.

Kane wasn't sure. "Her fight would be over quickly. She would be decapitated by the Quadruped immediately, I'd wager."

The animal was in the duct next to Elizabeth's. The creature was second only to the Xenomorph when it came to unrestrained aggression.

"I agree." Said Asherah. "The game would be unsatisfactory."

Odin nodded. "It would leave me with an insipid taste in my mouth. Today is about celebration and prowess. This... this would be an insult."

"She's mine." Piped Yeshua. "The female is mine. She was chosen as devotee to my line. She is my Follower."

"She's a hybrid, Yeshua." Corrected Asherah. "She can't be a Follower. She isn't pure. She was spliced, not evolved."

"Yes... but she's mine nonetheless. And there has been evolution of her species since splicing. My devotee. My Xenomorph. My possession." He looked at the Captain for confirmation.

Baal smiled proudly. "You're right. She was yours before. She's yours now. Do with her as you please."

"But just remember," Added Odin, "She's already a hybrid: we don't want a hybrid of a hybrid." He winked at him mischievously, "Okay?"

With that, the feast ended on a positive note as they made their way down to the gaming area.

Yeshua took out his disc and dragged the hologram of Elizabeth towards it where her form minimised and dissipated into the surface. He spoke into the disc: "Quarters."

The light blue strip-light in the presentation duct in which Elizabeth stood extinguished, flashed red for a few seconds, then illuminated green. There was a steady peristaltic motion back towards the seeding room.

Elizabeth lifted David's head so he could see the change. "More breadcrumbs, Hansel." Said Elizabeth risibly. "I think today's field trip to the woods has been cancelled due to bad weather."

"You may be right, Elizabeth. Should we begin celebrating now?"

Elizabeth raised her right hand in the air, "Yay!" She cheered quietly.

"Yay for us." Concurred David.

Yeshua watched as they moved cautiously back down the corridor. He had never had a personal slave before. He had never been in the presence of a hybrid before.

He had decided he no longer cared who won the games (his horse had fallen before it reached the paddock), he would not be claiming the winner's prize. But he did have a consolation prize. And she would pay greatly for denying the Xenomorph existence. She would pay greatly for having the temerity to exist. He would break her quickly. He would watch as the anima left her body to be replaced by desolation and ennui.

Today had been his greatest ever... and it was only going to get better.


	6. The Arena

**Chapter Six: The Arena**

_Their sun, like Earth's sun, was a third generation star. The accretion disc around it was the ideal distance from the sun and comprised of all the elements needed for a viable 'Goldilocks' planet: the conditions were 'just right'. Not a billion years after the planet's formation under gravity, abiogenesis had occurred and life took hold. Evolution was swift, or as swift as evolution from single cell to multi-cellular sentient beings can be. At the time of reaching scientific maturity, the humanoids measured the universe at less than ten billion years; they measured their planet's age at less than three. They counted the stars in the galaxy and the galaxies in the universe and decided there must be life elsewhere: they found no life on any planet and so a program of 'seeding' was set in place. Sacrifices were needed, for which there were no shortage of volunteers. It was considered a great honour. They would have the honour to not only birth a species, but a whole planetary eco-system. Six candidates at a time were selected before each mission and they would battle to the death until one remained standing. The contest was known as The Games. As the availability of planets grew more scarce, there became no need for 'Sacrifice Engineers' and The Games were abandoned- until something sinister was uncovered: the pollution of the original lifeblood of seeded planets. There had been genetic splicing to accelerate the evolution of certain species to obtain sentience. The offence became known as 'God Crime'. The criminal Engineers ruled over the indigenous hybrids as gods and so it became necessary to scour the universe for any signs of violation. The penalty upon discovery was the eradication and extirpation of all higher life-forms planet wide. Biological weaponry was designed to effect total extinction. From this, the science became ever more sophisticated until it actually became possible to design genetically advanced creatures rather than just lethal, pandemic viruses. The genes and the DNA were tweaked to make the specimens ever more aggressive and efficient. Soon, The Games returned, only this time, the victor was not left to create life, but destroy it. The Follower was selected for the god; the god then selected his weapon. The Games would select the means of destruction to be used on the planet. The mission to destroy Earth had gone wrong and unnoticed, but a hybrid female had arrived, alerting them of this failure. A new mission required a new destructor. The irony was not lost on the Mission Director that one of Earth's very own life-forms could be used as a means to its annihilation and so Elizabeth's time in captivity on the planet had been brief. Her need for answers had led her to jeopardise the lives of everyone she had ever known or loved._

The crew sat looking over the fifty metre diameter domed arena from their observation deck. They were protected by a highly advanced, impenetrable, translucent compound. The view of the events would not be obscured by anything.

All went quiet.

The doors raised and for quite some time there was no movement. The five presentation ducts were still.

For Kane, this was his favourite moment. The anticipation. Every second of the battle was a delicacy to savour. There was sometimes a long wait between missions, and therefore, the unique celebrations of day one were highly valued by all. In the four billion years since they had first achieved faster-than-light speed and interstellar travel, there were missions that had lasted well over a hundred years. This was common during the first intergalactic excursions, though the invention of inter-dimensional homing had shortened the return journey significantly. Nevertheless, there was no guarantee of how soon it would be before this day came again.

He took it all in.

There was usually predictability to the order in which the combatants would enter, as they had been genetically engineered to have certain characteristics. The polymorph, which Kane had chosen was always the wildcard. It would have serrated, semi-retractable spikes covering its back extending all the way down to the end of its prehensile tail and an invertebrate skeletal structure that could extend and articulate in many different ways, giving it the impression of being polymorphic. This would cause confusion to its prey and help avoid retaliatory attacks. What was unknown was how aggressive it would be. They were prone to being overly evasive at times rather than getting stuck in to the melee. The Xenomorph would always be his first choice if possible, but he had blown that through his own ham-fisted lack of restraint.

As expected, the first to emerge was the reanimated form chosen by Asherah. Her Follower had ingested the contents of the cup and achieved metamorphosis into what the crew called, 'Zombie'. There was little elegance to it. But it would never take a backwards step or capitulate until it had destroyed whoever or whatever was before it. Asherah had taken a chance choosing it, but it was a calculated risk taking into consideration the genetics of the humanoid with whom it had bonded.

The door shut behind it as it entered and immediately a structure, automatically generated from the base of the arena, targeted and closed around it to stop it moving into the middle of the arena. The Zombie bared its teeth and yelled loudly. It began hitting the transparent walls of its new prison until it became clear there would be little compromise of its physical integrity.

Asherah sat a little taller in her seat as her heart beat faster in admiration.

The noise from the Zombie attracted the attention of its opponents.

Odin's Quadruped, a four-legged creature that was, what appeared to be, just arms, hands and claws, scampered out, an enclosure shutting around it as it did so, impeding its progress.

The Zombie roared violently at it, the Quadruped rising up itself, revealing a circular mouth under its centre torso with an extendable jaw.

From presentation duct number three came the captain's choice to fight. Its precursor had been contained within the blue venturi. A gas had been released from this that was inhaled by the Follower, the result of which was grotesque. The humanoids tissue dissolved until it collapsed down into a large pupa, from which, a couple of hours later, emerged a transparent biped whose head was basically one vicious looking mouth containing teeth resembling elongated shards of glass. When resting, its camouflage was almost impossible to spot.

It was tradition that the captain not choose first, or last. It was also prohibited that he or she choose the Xenomorph. There was no clear understanding why this was, but in the time since the re-establishment of The Games, it had become lore.

As a result, it was rare for the captain's choice to stand victorious at the end.

In a flash, Kane's polymorph dashed into the open area and began climbing the wall in the direction of the crew causing them to flinch back away. But, despite its speed, it too was halted by the rapid enclosure before it climbed too high.

"There he is!" Boomed Kane. "He has spirit." He turned to Peter who was in awe of the creature's swiftness. Kane grabbed Peter's shoulder. "He has spirit, brother."

Peter slapped a hand over Kane's, his smile mirroring Kane's, "He will be difficult to best, brother. This will be an immense battle." With that, he placed a strong hand on Kane's shoulder in reciprocity.

"Yes." Concurred Kane. He suddenly felt this was a _Games_ he could win.

Baal stood and clapped his hands, producing a sound that caught the attention of the creatures below. As one, they responded with a show of belligerence, baring teeth and claw and charging their holding areas. "That's right, my fierce creatures. Feel your blood course. Sharpen your claws. Let the rage fuel you." He goaded.

Out of the final door came Peter's choice. He had taken the Symbiote. The Follower it had merged with was now naked and still easily identifiable, though her transformation had given her some extreme characteristics. Her neck and shoulders had bulked up, becoming more thickened and muscular. Her arms were still humanoid, but extending in different directions from them were six appendages resembling tentacles that pressed against either side of its see-through holding pen.

There was no 'sixth creature'.

"The Xenomorph-" said Odin to Yeshua, "your hybrid should pay for its absence."

These were Yeshua's thoughts exactly. His focus had been switching from this, his first Games, to the pathetic animal exploring aimlessly around his living quarters since he had been granted possession of her. He had been keeping an eye on her image on his disc. "I have been thinking about her. This is my first slave. Do you have any suggestions for how she should suffer?" He asked.

"There are many schools of thought," began Odin, "but what it all comes down to is, what do you want to accomplish for yourself? Do you want to see her in physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain, in extended discomfort, experiencing hunger, malnutrition, starvation, thirst... there are many choices."

Yeshua was nodding thoughtfully at his suggestions. "And what is it that you enjoy?"

"'Enjoy'?" He exhaled and considered his question pensively.

Yeshua waited attentively for his answer. The man was many hundreds-of-thousands of years older than he. Whatever advice he could give would be of value, no doubt.

"I wouldn't say I 'enjoy' it, per se. It is necessary and valuable for us to gain knowledge in all that we do. I would say, therefore, when it comes to the obliteration of chattel, it should necessarily teach me something in its destruction."

Yeshua thought about his words trying to work out what that meant.

"But I _do_ enjoy crushing their spirit." He added merrily. "If I could offer one definite course of action, it would be to engineer her with offspring. Torture it in her presence."

Yeshua smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

"Just make sure she carries the child inside her during gestation, rather than growing it externally and introducing it to her. The bond will be more intense."

The captain cleared his throat in their direction, "Finished, gentlemen?" He asked light-heartedly. "The Games are a-waiting."

They both laughed.

"Apologies, Captain." Said Odin. "Let the games begin."

Baal stood and placed the palms of his hands on the glass causing a spiral of neon particles to circle around them. He looked at the crew members and smiled. "Are we ready?" He asked.

They replied in the affirmative except Kane who was observing the combatants intensely.

"Kane?" Asked Baal.

Kane looked over at him. "Sorry, Captain?" He asked, puzzled. He then noticed the man's hands on the dome. "Ready- are we ready- am I ready? I mean, yes. Yes. I'm ready, Captain. Please."

"Thank you, brother."

The Captain looked at the swirling waves around his hands, "May the games... begin!"

With that he pushed the particles away from him. The streams dispersed in different directions until they reached the transparent tubes in which the creatures were being held. The material shone brightly before the walls split apart at the atomic level, the resulting matter rising up to the dome and diffusing into it until it was no longer visible.

The barriers removed, the captives moved quickly towards their closest target.

Yeshua leaned forward, his eyes wide, never blinking. As the first blow was landed, he was surprised that part of his mind was still on Elizabeth and the fun he would have with her. He had to shake his head to clear the thoughts. The Games were not something to be ignored and he had no intention of missing a thing all because of an alien runt. He knew that Elizabeth was going nowhere. She would be waiting for him when this was all over.


	7. The Fallen

**Chapter Seven: The Fallen**

_Yeshua's quarters were frugal, but spacious. There was a large table in the centre and an elongated surface against the back wall that formed itself around her hand when she pressed down on it. She deduced it must be a bed. These were the only two things she could consider to be furniture. Her search for a computer interface from which David could work was short. It was short, because there was no computer interface from which David could work. She tried voice activation, though quickly decided a language from a small country on an alien world light years away would not work on an alien ship._

"_David. Try voice activation." Said Elizabeth._

"_Computer, on." Said David in the foreign tongue. "Computer, activate."_

_Elizabeth waited quietly for a response from the ship._

_David said another few words before he addressed Elizabeth again, "Our obstacles may be many. It may recognise a different language;" he started, "it may have voice recognition; the alien who considered you his slave, may have singular control-"_

"_I'm not going to just give up, David. We have to try something. Anything." Finished Elizabeth._

"_Precisely my thoughts." Agreed David. "I would advise you continue your search. You're an archaeologist: Discovering hidden information is your speciality, is it not?" He quipped._

_Elizabeth smiled wryly. "Yeah... my 'speciality' led us on a two year cruise onto a deadly rock light-years from home. Maybe looking for stuff should not be my raison d'être."_

_While Elizabeth continued her search, and while David attempted various commands to activate the computer, the battle in the arena began._

_Asherah's Zombie swiped at its enclosure as the tube atomised and rose up into the dome. It looked up momentarily, before its attention returned to the creatures around it that had taken up defensive postures._

_Peter's Symbiote advanced swiftly towards Kane's Polymorph, which sprang to the side to avoid its assault and latched onto the wall, aiming a hiss back down at its attacker._

_Odin's Quadruped scrambled towards the Captain's translucent Biped that wasn't as adept as the Polymorph when it came to evasion. Three claws sliced through the skin and the creature gave off a shriek in pain, before managing to leap away to avoid further onslaught._

_The Quadruped was undeterred. It continued to pursue its quarry, its focus never leaving it for one second. It advanced speedily after it, its front arms, hands and claws grabbing towards it._

_But the Biped too, was a predator. It was designed to attack, not to defend and always had an eye on getting the upper hand in any skirmish. It stopped abruptly, turned and threw an aimed claw towards the Quadruped, knocking it back across the floor, where it slid upside down._

_Without warning, the Zombie landed on the creature and began tearing at its extremities. There were screams of pain as it managed to pull off, first one arm, then another, acidic blood spraying out from its wounds._

_Asherah leant forward. This was the moment of truth. How would her fighter react to acid wounds?_

_The blood landed on the Zombie's skin, burning it and turning it red. But immediately healing itself with a new epidermal layer. An acrid smoke rose away from the wound._

"_See!" Shouted Asherah as she punched the air. "Instant regeneration."_

_The Zombie yelled and stamped down on the animal underneath it as one final claw from the Quadruped slashed at it cutting it open at its middle, out from which poured its intestines._

_Baal's Biped spotted the injury, but before it could attack the Zombie, a horn sounded and the enclosures shot up, keeping them apart; the Polymorph and the Symbiote, who had both managed to cause slight injury to each other and were entangled on the floor, were suddenly targeted by a powerful electric charge that emanated from the ground below. The two leapt away from each other and were immediately surrounded by their own partitions._

_The Captain stood, "We have our first fallen warrior." He turned to his First Officer, "Odin, you have our sympathies."_

_Odin looked down at the Quadruped. "Balls." He said simply._

"_It battled well for the time it had. It caused injury to two others. It is never easy when there are five in the arena." Comforted Baal._

"_Yes, Captain." Said Odin pensively. He was quiet for a moment. "I should have chosen the Xenomorph. The opportunity was there to pick the Xenomorph. Why didn't I choose the Xenomorph?!"_

_The others could sense his frustration, but also the light-heartedness in his self-questioning._

"_Brother," Said Kane, "at least your animal made it to the race: Yeshua's ride fell before it even made the start line."_

_They roared with laughter. All except Yeshua who was looking down at his disc and missed the playful jibe. He sensed their attention on him and looked up._

_Baal was smiling at him, "You okay, brother? You're looking at your disc during The Games? Is something wrong?"_

_Yeshua stood, "I missed nothing, Captain. It's fascinating." He looked at his disc again. "But it's my hybrid. I may have to attend to her while the fighters are being regenerated."_

_In the arena, in each enclosure, the injuries of the creatures were being treated to restore them to peak condition. The slash wounds were being cauterised and the innards of the Zombie were being returned by articulating appendages that reached in through the wall of the enclosure. The hands of the Zombie were held motionless by a field of energy emitted from within the tube._

_It yelled feverishly._

_Kane closed his eyes and leaned back. In his mind, he began replayed the battle he'd just seen. He imagined how he himself would have fared in the mix. He saw himself alone in the arena with his Polymorph, scrapping and landing punches against it, standing and throwing it against the wall._

_He imagined himself fighting the Xenomorph... it was ferocious and relentless... but then again, so was he._

_His throat rumbled and he spoke words only he could hear as he enjoyed the vision._

_Baal looked from the arena to Yeshua. "The Games will begin again in twenty minutes. Go attend to your business."_

_Yeshua nodded and went to leave. Odin took his wrist. "Remember: You are all things. Teach her she is nothing."_

_Yeshua had purpose in his eyes, "Thank you, Odin." He patted the hand that held his arm._

_As he left the observation deck, he was speaking into his disc, giving it instructions while he made his way hurriedly back to his quarters..._

He arrived to find the room still. He approached the black and green table in the centre of the room. "The vial, computer." The surface of the table rippled and parted, up from which came a small vial containing a colourless liquid. "Give me a glass of H2O." Again, the surface rippled and up from within the table came a glass of water. He emptied the contents of the vial into the glass and turned. Elizabeth lay unconscious on the floor. "Rouse the alien." Ordered Yeshua.

Slowly, Elizabeth's eyes opened drowsily and she looked up at the ceiling of Yeshua's quarters.

Yeshua walked over to her. "Sit up and drink this." He said stiffly.

Despite her disoriented condition, Elizabeth tried to push herself away from the giant albino. She had no idea what was happening and his words sounded firm and harsh.

Yeshua bent down and grabbed her clothing at the chest, dragging her up to him. "Drink this, runt."

"Who are you?" These were the words she wanted, but the sound that came out was nothing more than garbled vowel sounds.

"Elizabeth," Said David, "I believe he wants you to drink the liquid."

Suddenly, the memories of the preceding events returned, though her physical equilibrium was still off. "David?"

Yeshua looked over at the talking head and back at Elizabeth. "He talks for you?" He looked at her with enduring contempt as he spoke. "Tell her to drink, or I will tear her arms from their sockets."

"He says he wants you to drink the liquid, Elizabeth. If you don't he'll begin to remove your limbs from your torso."

"What's in it?" Asked Elizabeth nervously, though her words were still slurred and shaky.

"I rather think the question is moot at this point. Don't you?"

Elizabeth took the glass from Yeshua and tentatively began to drink. She took a few sips and Yeshua let go of her.

"Good. Tell her she will be with child." He pulled up Elizabeth's top and placed his hand on her stomach, noticing for the first time, the scar she had sustained on LV-223. "This is recent. Why is it not healed?" Yeshua had never seen a scar that wasn't healed by the medical drones. It was still highly visible where the skin had been lacerated. "Tell her she will give birth in the days to come. The labour will be agonising and lasting, but she will live through it. Tell her I look forward to observing her pain."

Yeshua left his quarters saying no more and made his way back to the observation deck overlooking the arena. He was pleased to see the combatants were back to physical perfection.

"Thank you for waiting." Said Yeshua. He looked content. "Her pain has begun."

"Excellent news." Said Baal, who stood and placed his hands on the dome of the arena, the swirls of light beginning to dance around them.

Odin turned to Yeshua and spoke quietly, "You gave her a child?"

Yeshua nodded. "I did as you recommended, brother. It will gestate inside her."

Odin patted Yeshua's thigh, "I'm proud of you, my boy. And I envy you the adventure that lies before you."

The Captain bowed his head. "Let the Games... continue!" He threw his hands forward and the enclosure shone bright, exploded into floating atoms and rose into the dome.

The Zombie immediately pounced towards the Symbiote who raised its tentacles towards it in defence. From the tips fired sharp needles hitting the Zombie in the face and eyes. As the Zombie landed on top of its foe, it roared both in pain and fury. As the tentacles of the Symbiote took firm hold, pulling and prying away flesh with its jagged claws, the Zombie landed blows against its upper body in an attempt to subdue the frenzy. It grabbed a tentacle and tore hard until it detached, releasing more acid onto its skin.

There was less action from the other two participants. The Polymorph patrolled around the arena floor, above it, the Biped paced the underside of the dome.

"Shall I send a pulse through the dome, Captain?" Asked Odin. "Your Biped is overly defensive. This is not worthy of The Games."

Before he could answer, the Polymorph altered its course of action and decided to join in with the fracas between the Zombie and Symbiote.

The Symbiote, who had managed to wrestle the Zombie underneath it, raised her muscular arm to smash down on the other creature's head as her tentacles continued to pull and tear away skin.

Unseen, from the side, the Polymorph attacked using it serrated tail as a cutter.

Too late, the Symbiote sensed the attack. As she threw her punch, the Polymorph's tail whipped round. The Symbiote lifted tentacles to block the move. A second later, the decapitated head and severed feelers fell to the floor, the Zombie throwing her dead body to the floor beside it quickly in readiness for further aggression.

Peter looked up to the heavens as his fighter's lifeless form went limp.

Odin consoled him. "This was unfortunate, Peter. It had the upper hand."

Asherah agreed. "My Zombie was saved by the cowardice of the Biped."

"I feel disgrace at its showing." Said the Captain, who stood. "But..." He raised his hands. "we have our second fallen warrior!"

The six crewmembers applauded respectfully.

In the Arena, the Zombie stumbled against the wall of its enclosure, where blood continued to leak from its wounds.

"Your fighter will need much attention before we can continue." Baal said to Asherah. "I will give it all the time it needs."

"Thank you, Captain." Accepted Asherah.

Yeshua took out his disc to monitor Elizabeth's movements. She was stood next to David, giving him a drink of her water. Yeshua laughed. The little girl was feeding her dolly, it seemed. "Captain," He said, "may I be excused?"

"Yes." Said Baal. "We have our final three warriors. If anyone cares to take a walk, The Games will commence again in thirty minutes."

With that, Yeshua returned to his quarters.

He stood at the doorway while Elizabeth wandered unsteadily with the glass still in her hand, a confused expression on her face. She rocked slowly from side to side. "You're small and weak, slave. The drugs work hard on you."

Elizabeth looked round at the goliath and slowly walked towards him. Yeshua was confused. This woman should be terrified of him. He couldn't understand why she was not cowering at his sight, let alone approaching him.

She stopped in front of him, their difference in size immense. He was almost twice her height. Her eyes were half closed as she stared through him with a glazed confusion. She raised the glass to him.

Yeshua felt the blood begin to boil within him. "You come to me?! You dare come to me?! You are mine. You will do as _I_ command. You will heel when I say and flee when I desire." He snatched the glass from her. "You want to hurt me with this? You wish to impregnate _me_?" He laughed. "You cannot hurt me. There is nothing you can do that would ever have an effect on me. And this-" He raised the glass and looked at its contents, "I have no womb, you simple creature." He lifted his head high and boomed. Elizabeth shrank back in fear, though her expression changed very little. "This is a thirst quencher." He took the glass to his lips in confirmation of his words and drank what remained.

He threw the glass against the wall, where it rebounded back into the middle of the room, unshattered and whole.

Elizabeth flinched and stumbled to the floor.

As he headed to the door, Yeshua spoke loudly, "I will be back on completion of The Games. Fear my return."

Elizabeth lay back into the floor, breathing heavily. The exhaustion and relief filled her now her charade was over. Though she didn't understand Yeshua's words, she knew what she had just done and what its consequences were. She spoke determinedly, "We need to get out of here, David. We don't have long."

David spoke, his voice mimicking Yeshua's, his knowledge of the alien language was comprehensive. He had studied it thoroughly during their journey from LV-223 to the Engineer's home world. "Computer: display the location of the officers aboard ship."

A hologram emerged above the surface of the table and showed a schematic diagram of the ship. The crew blipped in areas around the display.

"Computer: show the location of all alien entities aboard ship."

The position of Elizabeth and the life-forms in the arena blipped.

"David," Said Elizabeth, "Ask the computer how the hell we can get off this boat."

"And the crew?"

Elizabeth, whose attention had been hijacked momentarily, looked across the room at David. "If at all possible... kill every last one of the bastards."

While David spoke to the computer in the alien language, Elizabeth lay back, placed a hand on her stomach and began to laugh. "Pregnant." _Could it be true?_

She laughed harder, causing her stomach to spasm. Then an image in her mind quietened her. It was Charlie's face. She sniffed as she felt tears begin to well in her eyes. She wiped them away and cleared her throat, before calming herself. "A baby." She whispered into the air. "A baby."

She closed her eyes and rolled onto her side, speaking to the face she saw in her head. "Don't worry, Charlie." She said, "I'll protect our baby. Don't worry."


	8. The Games

**Chapter Eight: The Games**

_They had come together just one day before and, as was their genetically modified predisposition, bonded immediately. Solidarity and altruism towards their own kind had been programmed into them billions of years before. Flicking on the right genes; flicking off the wrong genes; manipulating genes that were congruous to a harmonious, singularly focussed, interstellar society. Simply put: they altered themselves to be kind to each other._

_Yesterday, along with their Followers, they had been transported inter-dimensionally from their home planet to the weapons moon many thousands of light years away where The Games would take place as providence for their mission. These silos of stockpiled weaponry were strewn liberally across the galaxies- the living biological arsenal was not allowed within the inner quadrants. Though they considered many worlds now their home worlds, the planet where their DNA had first spawned was sacred and defended jealously._

_The Games were tradition. There would be a victorious entity by the end of the day. This animal would be delivered, along with many hundreds of its brethren, to Sector 13-80 where Earth and its hybrid abominations awaited, unaware of the machinations of the more powerful race._

_Aboard their ships, the Engineers of the living universe were aware of a threat from alien species, but feared the ingress of none. Security within the ships was considered unnecessary and a waste of resources, even though resources to them were infinitely recyclable. It was a sign of the species' hubris. Any security they had was pointed outwards. The possibility of attack from within was absurd. The animals onboard ship were safely locked away in their 'cages'... but the keys to these locks were readily available to anyone who wanted to let them out, were they so inclined. Sabotage was an alien concept. It never occurred. Security was lax._

_Now David was on the inside. He had a key. He just needed to find the right cage to unlock._

"The baby wants orange juice." Said Charlie. "Do we have any in the fridge?"

Elizabeth went to check. "Damn. I thought I picked some up from the shop, yesterday. We've got apple juice." She screwed up her nose as she turned to her husband.

They both spoke as one: "But I don't like apple juice. I want orange juice."

They laughed and shook their heads as their three year old son walked into the kitchen. "Can I have some orange juice, mummy?"

Elizabeth allowed Charlie to sell the idea of the hated apple juice. "Hey junior, we got something better than orange juice. It's full of vitamins and goodness and-"

Charlie interrupted him before his father got carried away with himself, "But I don't like apple juice, daddy. I want orange juice."

The two adults laughed while Charlie looked on resolutely. Unfazed.

"You got two choices then, kiddo: milk or water." Said Elizabeth.

Charlie jnr. considered his options. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. It would not do. "Mummy..." He said seriously.

"Yes, darling." She said mirroring his stern tone.

"Can I have coffee? I know I'm only three, but I think I'd like it." He made a good case they both thought, their eyes meeting across the room.

Elizabeth took a glass from a wall cupboard and went to the fridge for the milk.

"Elizabeth," Said Charlie, "Elizabeth..."

"He can have milk." She responded. "It's got calcium in it for strong healthy bones, remember?"

"Elizabeth..." He repeated, his face serious.

"Yes?" She poured the milk into the glass.

"Elizabeth?" The same voice. The same dry pitch.

"Yes, Charlie?" She turned to look at him, a little bit nervous.

"Elizabeth. Can you hear me? Are you asleep?"

"Asleep? What do you mean?" She replied quizzically, "I'm..." Her senses returned as her dream melted away. She had fallen asleep on the floor as she thought of the man who had been taken from her two weeks earlier. She felt a hole open up in the pit of her stomach.

David was trying to get her attention.

For a few seconds, Elizabeth just wished this was all over. The vision had lifted her up high: the fall was hard and jolting. She eschewed the dream as her thoughts tried desperately to return to the utopia of it. "Yes, David?"

"It seems I have full access to the ships controls."

Elizabeth didn't comprehend the absoluteness of his words at first. "Full access? What do you mean?"

"I assumed the statement was self-explanatory." Said David with no signs of sarcasm in his tone. "The ship's security systems are on hibernation, so to speak. I have the means to over-ride the captain."

Elizabeth's attention was piqued. The adrenaline was being released causing her heart to beat faster. More eagerly. "Do it!"

"I took the liberty." Said David proudly.

"Where are the crew now? They're congregated together, right?" Asked Elizabeth excitedly.

"Yes. I believe they are attending an event they call _The Games_."

"The Games?"

"I believe it's the most apposite translation. It could also mean 'The Congregation'; 'The Chosen'; 'The Race'; they use it as the name of a galaxy; a meal-"

"Thank you, David. We don't have much time." She reminded him.

"The creature that was to be seeded in you, would be fighting in The Games if we hadn't taken steps. It seems there are three life-forms remaining in the mix. We should move quickly before Yeshua feels the urge to return."

Elizabeth looked at the floor and considered the information with which David had provided her. Her eyes moved from side to side as if reading the printout of her thoughts. "Is there a chance we can get off the ship without them noticing, do you think?"

"'How far would we get?', would be the follow-up question." Replied David.

"Then we need to take them out." She knew it was _kill_ or _be_ killed, but it was not a paradigm she was used to. She looked over at David. "Any thoughts on how we do that?"

David began speaking to the computer again, his words fluent and clear, but of a language Elizabeth didn't understand. 'Restaurant' level French; 'direction' level German; and passable Spanish were the only pools of reference from which she could pull. She could do nothing other than wait while David worked.

She thought about the crew being eviscerated and devoured by creatures like the one that had grown inside her. Maybe the Xenomorph would look something like that. She wondered if Yeshua, the giant that mocked and threatened her would feel pain when the Xenomorph reached maturity and wanted out. His major crime against her was, he had forced something upon her she had wanted all her life: to be a mother. She felt guilt pull at her and there was a sense of regret about what she and David had done to him: what they had put inside him when he drank the water. Yeshua had laced it with a substance that contained the power to create new life within her. In return, David had deposited the seed that would create a more destructive form of life.

But he _was_ cruel and sadistic, thought Elizabeth. What was coming to him was nothing less than he deserved. And maybe what they had done would make no difference. Maybe he would already be dead by the time the Xenomorph emerged. Maybe he would be killed by one of its cousins currently fighting in the pit during the chaos she hoped to induce.

"The Games have begun again, Elizabeth. We should act now."

Elizabeth took a breath and walked briskly over to David, lifting him up from the surface of the table from which he had been working.

As she lifted this head up, it suddenly hit her just how unusual her life had become and a mild euphoria washed over her.

"You seem giddy." Said David as Elizabeth held him to her.

"Don't worry about me, David;" Said Elizabeth, "I do this all the time. This is like spring training for archaeologists."

"Your courage is commendable." Complimented David.

Elizabeth smiled. "Shut up, David and show me the way off this boat."

"Es tut mir leid." Said David mischievously, his playful intellect still prominent.

"Hey, I understood that one. Now open the door." She said flatly.

It was the moment of truth. David gave a command to the computer to open the door.

"I've disabled communications on the ship, including holographic mapping and location. They are as blind as we are."

"Time then, to set the lunatics free from the asylum."

The corridors were clear and Elizabeth moved swiftly, turning when told to do so. In between his directions, David spoke to the computer.

"It's done." He said.

Elizabeth stayed quiet...

In the arena, unnoticed by the crew, a presentation duct opened. As the third stage of fighting reached its climax, they were also unaware the transparent dome separating them from the biological killing machines had deactivated.

The change to their mission priorities would be emphatic. Their participation in The Games would no longer be just as spectator.


	9. Liberation (Part One)

**Chapter Nine: Liberation (Part One)**

_The prize for owning the winning animal was the privilege of making first contact with the hybrid race prior to their obliteration. Kane always saw this as a strange and useless act. It was not what The Games were for. They had been introduced as a way of selecting the most worthy candidate to lay an indelible blueprint on a new world. The prize of first contact was nothing more than schadenfreude. If the Polymorph stood victorious at the end, he felt he would like young Yeshua to accept the prize with his blessing. It would stand him in good stead for the future. Despite the boy's obsession with his slave, he seemed driven and destined for great things. The constant checking on the girl was understandable. He wanted to experience new things. He was young, but his verve was infectious._

_Baal was displeased with his Biped. It had evaded confrontation with the others. However, he would not turn down the prize if the Biped remained standing at the end. First contact with lesser species was something he enjoyed. If the species was in its infancy, he enjoyed seeing them kowtow at his feet. He never felt more like a god than when he was amongst the tribes. If the species was advanced, he enjoyed the synchronicity of the global message and the unified terror at the knowledge of their impending doom. He had destroyed the inhabitants of seven planets in his time. He was prolific. It reinforced his feeling of absolute power. The Captain's seat fitted him well._

_Asherah's confidence was still high. The polymorph was quick; the Biped was cowardly: but her Zombie was now battle hardened. Its wounds were almost healed. It would be ready for the following onslaught, she was sure._

_Odin and Peter sat in quiet neutrality. They would enjoy what was left of the combat and share in their crewmember's delight come the end._

_Yeshua was in rapture. His second day out of the Academy was unrivalled when compared against any day he had previously lived in his life. He was like a dog with two bones, not knowing which to chew first. The 'real universe' was like the toy box he had been given by his guardians two decades earlier: full of wonder and excitement and new things to explore. He looked forward to the eternity which lay before him._

Yeshua smiled broadly at Odin.

"You look happy, young man." Said Odin.

"Looks don't deceive, brother." Said Yeshua. "I couldn't ask for a more portentous introduction to life in the Force. I agree, I could've been blessed with the Xenomorph- unheard of for a rookie-"

Odin agreed with that, "Yah."

"But now I am given another most exhilarating gift."

"A gift. No doubt. You've been most fortunate, of that I'm sure. But now, young Yeshua, you must listen to my words and listen well-"

Yeshua hung on Odin's counsel.

"The games are about to begin again-"

"Yes." Said Yeshua eagerly.

"So put away your bloody disc. You have no idea how little you need it right now and it's diminishing your appreciation of The Games. Trust me, there are no meteors set for collision; no Predator uprisings expected; all is at peace." Odin looked down at the three restored creatures in the arena. "Except in there. Peace will not be breaking out in there any time soon. So keep it out of sight."

"It is deactivated already, sir." Yeshua said cheekily and gave him a smile.

"Thank you, sir." Said Odin and patted his thigh affectionately.

The Captain stood again and placed his hands on the dome. Seconds later, the action had begun anew.

The Biped took its chance to catch the Zombie by surprise. The Zombie, which had broke for the Polymorph, was caught by three claws that sliced across its back and a snapping bite that took a chunk out of the back its head.

The Biped turned towards the Zombie and licked its teeth. What there was of a face on the animal looked like it was in permanent smile. A cruel smile.

Inside its see-through body, the flesh it had taken out of the Zombie was being ingested and working its way down towards its stomach. Within minutes, this flesh too would be invisible to the eye, the acids dissolving and absorbing the proteins in the creature's digestive system.

The Zombie did indeed turn towards the Biped. It seemed stunned that the Biped had actually joined the fight.

The Polymorph seized the opportunity to make its move. It aimed for the Zombie's open wound and sunk its teeth deep while slashing repeatedly into the back.

The Zombie did not roar. This time, it screamed in agony.

Asherah knew this was going to be swift.

As David made the order to lower the dome, and open the presentation duct, the Zombie fell to the floor and desperately threw its arms back to try to dislodge the Polymorph.

It was useless, every time the Zombie landed a blow, the attacker simply loosened its skin and shifted the floating skeleton within. The Zombie's elbows and hands slipped across the Polymorph's hide and not into it. There were no effective shots.

"It's over." Said Asherah solemnly.

"Not yet." Said Baal. "There are still signs of life. The horn has not sounded."

The crew sat on the edge of their seats as the Polymorph inflicted more and more damage. The Zombie had not moved for some time. It must have been dead by now. Something was wrong.

Kane looked around the arena. "Where's your Biped, Captain?" He asked.

Baal stood and leant forward onto the dome in order to locate it... his hands did not find its surface. He continued to fall.

"Captain!" Shouted Peter and lunged forward to stop him from falling into the arena.

The Polymorph flinched away instinctively and looked up at the two men overhanging the pit. It didn't hesitate. It was fast. Unbelievably fast.

Peter noticed its advance and managed to pull the Captain back in time. As he did so, however, his weight shifted and he fell forward himself, his head sticking over the edge.

A moment later, it was gone. It landed, detached, in the arena and bounced few times before rolling against the wall. The Polymorph scrambled towards it and took one last bite at the bloody flesh within Peter's decapitated neck.

"No!" Screamed Kane. "Bastard!"

He sprang over the barrier and down into the arena, not concerned for one second as to where the Biped was lurking. He wanted revenge for his crewmate. A heat grew within him that could've fuelled the centre of a star. He didn't hesitate to tackle his Polymorph.

The Polymorph hissed at the man and tried to escape his grip. Its skin loosened, its skeleton shifted and Kane's hold was lost.

Kane got to his feet athletically. His normally opaque complexion was pink. His black eyes were mad and from their corners, tears were beginning to fall. One day or a hundred thousand years- it was no difference: Peter was his brother and would be forever.

He ran at the Polymorph again.

"Join him, Odin." Ordered the Captain without pause.

Odin leapt into the arena.

Kane missed the Polymorph which reached out to connect a reverse strike. The flap of skin it removed from its new opponent was not felt by the man. The adrenaline surge was too strong. He was in a blind rage.

Kane saw Odin land in the arena. "It's mine." He warned. I will take its life... for Peter."

Yeshua put a hand on the lip of the arena wall ready to jump in.

"No." Said Baal. "You need to find your slave-girl. Kill her on sight. Asherah and I will pursue the Biped."

"But Odin and-" Yeshua stopped himself. He didn't need the Captain to remind him who was giving the orders.

"Do it now, Yeshua, or you're not the man you tell us you are." The Captain's words where the perfect choice to be used on an ambitious young officer who would rather die than disappoint his superiors.

"Apologies, Captain." Yeshua bounded out of the observation deck and towards his quarters.

Baal gestured for Asherah to follow him and they jumped into the arena before setting off into the open presentation duct while Odin and Kane closed down the Polymorph.

Baal took out the disc form his thigh assimilator and spoke into it: "Computer: locate Biped and lock down." The disc made no response. There was no sound, there were no holographic alerts and there was no recognition of his order from the computer. "Computer..." He turned to Asherah as they advanced down the duct. "Your disc: try it."

Asherah took out her own disc, "Computer: locate Biped and lock down. Computer: respond"

There was nothing.

"I've been locked out of my own ship."

"It's the hybrid. Yeshua didn't initiate any security protocols against her."

"There _are_ no security protocols concerning lower life-forms onboard ship. We have to take back control. Quickly."

Baal and Asherah made their way from the central, forward arc of the ship and down from the upper decks. They hoped they were running in the right direction. The lack of control was something new to them. An unwanted guest.

Across the way, however, in the starboard wing, while the crew struggled to restore parity, Elizabeth and David were getting closer to the exit of the ship. They would be free very soon. But only if their luck held strong and their passage stayed clear.


	10. Liberation (Part Two)

**Chapter Ten: Liberation (Part Two)**

_The Biped fled off down the presentation duct from which it had entered. It switched from two feet to four feet, depending on whether it needed to corner or run inverted on the ceiling, as it made its way back to the Seeding Room._

_It moved cautiously into the room, sensing that the door on the other side lay open already. It crept closer to the doorway, allowing its perceptory senses time to take in any dangers._

_But it was an ambush predator. All it wanted to do was find a spot where it could sit and wait... and prepare to pounce._

_It crept on into the maze like the Minotaur, and lay in wait for its victim._

Elizabeth felt tiny. The Ship had been built on a different scale, internally, from any Earth vessel to date.

Her feet sounded heavy as she treaded the corridors. In reality, she was barely making a sound but her senses were on high alert. She was fearful that at any time, she would run into some_one_ or some_thing_ as they made their escape. Every second she spent in the ship felt life an age.

"We're approaching the stairwell to level three." Said David. "Take the next left and descend. Wait..."

Elizabeth stopped in her tracks. Silent. The need to breathe was being overridden by her need to listen for her foes. "What do you hear?" She whispered.

"I heard a voice: shouting. I couldn't discern the words or the direction from which it was emitted. I say we should continue."

"Okay." She voiced breathlessly as she rushed on.

The ship's stairs were large and she was surprised at how much difficulty it caused to traverse as she made her way down. Just a little alteration in dimensions causing her feet to catch on the edges on almost every other step.

"And take a left at the bottom." We need to span the full distance of the next level. The exit is at the end."

Elizabeth felt a rush of elation. This was good news. They were close. Very close.

She reached the final step of the stairwell and began to turn. In her eagerness, her foot caught the lip heavily and she fell, David's head rolling to the right of the exit.

"Shit. David. Are you okay?" She picked him up and looked at his face checking for damage.

"I'm fine, Elizabeth. Hold me upright in the direction of the exit so I can recalibrate our position."

She did as he asked for a couple of seconds. It was agony. She wanted to begin walking, but knew David's matrix needed to realign on its calculations.

She felt the skin rise on her neck as goose bumps crawled over her body. It was a sickening feeling.

_Please, David, hurry!_ She almost felt compelled to continue on without him, but knew that would be a really bad idea.

_PLEASE, DAVID!_

"It's done. You can proceed. Thank you." Said David, completely unaware of the emotions churning round inside her.

She didn't wait for him to finish talking before she started to run.

But as soon as she started-

"Stop." Said David abruptly.

She slid to a halt. "What is it now?" She whispered.

Before David could respond, from halfway down the corridor, from an adjoining corridor, stepped Asherah. She took a look the other way down the corridor first, then back to the left where Elizabeth stood.

"Oh, no." Said Elizabeth without realising the words had been spoken.

A smile came over Asherah's face. But there was no warmth in this smile- it wasn't a smile you'd give an old friend after spending years apart- it was a smile that told Elizabeth the greater woman would probably enjoy ripping out her heart.

_I'd better run the other way_, thought Elizabeth.

She turned to see an enormous figure stood blocking her escape, not far from the exit of the stairwell she had come from. It was Baal. There was no smile on _his_ face. She had hurt him. There was no memory in his head, implicit or explicit, that he could recall where he had felt so powerless. Whether all this was her doing or not, somebody needed to pay. He needed satisfaction.

He spoke over Elizabeth's head to his Logistics Officer. "Let her tremble." He said. "Let her shake at the knowledge that her life will soon be over."

"I say we rip off her head." Said Asherah. "For Peter."

"An offering to the gods." Concluded Baal.

"Peter would enjoy that. He would smile." Put forward Asherah.

"I agree." Said Baal.

Elizabeth stood side on to both of them looking from one to the other, holding David against her, protectively. "David... I don't know what they're saying..."

"It's better you don't, Elizabeth." Reported David. "It's very unhealthy language they're speaking to each other."

"... but I'd be really happy if you had any ideas of how to get out of this."

"The situation will have a positive end." Said David. "Have no fear."

Elizabeth almost cursed him. His inability to feel emotions was infuriating at times. Empathy would not be forthcoming. Her misery would have no company.

"David, tell me how I can come out of this alive. Please!"

David spoke as though he was an I.T. consultant talking to an office worker, trying to tell her how to overcome a programming glitch on her computer. "Okay, Elizabeth, I need you to turn to the female at the other end of the corridor..."

Elizabeth turned away from Baal and stood facing Asherah. "Okay."

"I need you to smile at her."

"What?! Smile at her?" Elizabeth was sure the trauma to David's cranial unit had finally caused critical failure to his processing units.

"Now, I need you to- are you smiling at her, Elizabeth?" Checked David.

Elizabeth forced herself to smile. It was very unnatural looking.

"Now, I need you to scowl at her and very angrily shout the words, 'vakan kabira'. Be very forceful and very aggressive. Do it quickly."

"What? 'Vakan kabira'? What does that mean?" Asked Elizabeth quietly, but intensely.

"Shout the words 'vakan kabira'. Now!"

Elizabeth took a pace towards Asherah and shouted like a football hooligan at the opposing fans. "Vakan kabira! Do you hear me, you bitch?! Vakan kabira! Vakan ka-fucking-bira!"

Before David could tell her not to split the infinitive, Asherah's voice shook Elizabeth in its ferocity with words she neither understood, nor wanted to understand.

She began charging down the corridor at her.

Elizabeth took a step back in sheer terror. "David...?"

David didn't say a word, and as Elizabeth looked down at him, his face smiled back up at her.

_He's turned against me_, thought Elizabeth. _He's finally turned against me. I can't believe he's betrayed me._ All she wanted to do was throw him at the stampeding female and run in a direction she knew not where.

Her head flitted round to Baal, who was looking equally offended by what she'd said.

She scrunched her eyes almost closed, anticipating impact.

_Will it hurt, _she thought.

Without warning, Asherah fell to the floor and began struggling to get back up to her feet. It was as though she was having a fit. Her arms swung wildly.

"Bastard!" Shouted Baal and ran towards Elizabeth.

She recoiled from him, but he merely brushed past her as he went to help his crewmate back to her feet.

Elizabeth was confused as to why this was happening. Maybe the woman has a medical condition, she thought briefly. Maybe the man was a doctor.

She moved in the opposite direction before David stopped her again.

"You need to get past them." Said David. "The exit is on the other side."

"But they'll kill me."

"There is a highly camouflaged creature attacking them." He said, disturbingly calmly. "You should take your chance. It may be your only hope. Hurry."

Elizabeth did as she was told and moved _towards_ the chaotic scene. She squinted to see if she could see what was happening. She could see erratic movement and a growing amount of blood coming from them. And through it all, the male was shouting angrily in the direction of the woman.

As Elizabeth shuffled around them, a spray of blood landed on her face and clothing and it was all she could do not to retch.

"Quicker." Encouraged David. "This is a danger area."

She skipped sideways until she was clear, before breaking back into a run and off towards the exit.

Asherah had had no chance. The Biped had dug deeply into her neck with its razor sharp teeth, severing her jugular. She had bled out quickly. The blood had covered the Biped, rendering its skin's camouflage ineffective. Baal had been able to target his attack against it easily, punching it to the body and to the head, his enormous strength causing substantial damage to the animal. "Show me your spirit, coward. I will tear out your soul and feed it to you." The Biped hissed and bawled at him. "That's it. Feel the pain." He raised his arm a little farther back in order to land a more powerful blow in the hope it would be the death strike.

With a final swipe, the Biped aimed a claw at Baal's throat cutting him deep. The blood poured out like a rich waterfall.

Instead of throwing his punch, his hand went straight to his throat to effect direct pressure to the wound.

The Biped moved lazily, but was finally put down by Baal's boot, stamping across at it, its skull making a crunching sound as it fell motionless.

Baal's voice gargled as he attempted to access the computer: "Computer: medical emergency. Sector 4, level 3. Computer: medical emergency." But it was too late for him. Consciousness left him swiftly. His hand slipped away as the lifeblood drained from his neck and onto the corridor beneath. His eyes went glassy as he stared down the corridor in the direction the hybrid and her doll had run, her light steps being the final things he heard.

"The cargo hold is the next door on the right." Said David.

Elizabeth nodded quickly.

"I've disabled all commands aboard the ship. All doors are open and I've shut off life support. We need to get to the next ship. There is a subterranean network of tunnels connecting the ships. It should be possible for us to close and secure the blast doors behind us. If any of the crew remains alive, they will have to travel over ground where they will need breathing apparatus... which leads me to make my next suggestion."

"What is it?" Asked Elizabeth as she reached the exit hatch.

"The utility masks to your right."

Elizabeth paused, one foot inside, and one out on the retractable off-ramp. She saw the row of six masks.

"If you are able to: bring them with you. They have no means to construct new ones. The computer is down and with it, the ship's replication technology."

She stood still and stared at the masks. They were huge. There was no way she could carry them all.

David tried to make the feat seem plausible to her: "The blast door is fifty metres away. Once we are through, you can discard them." Simple.

Elizabeth did her best.

She reached the bottom of the ramp and stumbled as her feet reached terra firma. She looked like a child trying on adult fancy dress. On her head rested a mask, which she struggled to see out of. David was inside another mask and on top of that was balanced one more. In each hand (that were already cradling David and the two masks between the forearms) Elizabeth carried two more masks. Five masks in all. Only one remaining on board ship.

From inside one of the helmets, David's echoing voice spoke, "You can go back for the last helmet once we're at the door."

_Sod that_, she thought.

The helmet that was balanced on top of David fell to the ground forcing Elizabeth to kick it the rest of the way like an irregularly shaped football. It wasn't far now. Five good kicks and they were there.

She dropped the masks to the ground, careful not to drop David. The code needed to be entered manually.

"Which ones do I hit, David?" There were fifteen symbols.

Slowly, but clearly, he talked her through it, describing the symbols visually.

The door made a _clunk_ as though unlocking, and raised slowly. She quickly kicked the masks under the door to the other said and ducked underneath with them.

A procession of lights illuminated the wide tunnel as she stepped through.

"Yeshua." Warned David.

Out from the hatch and onto the ramp, emerged Yeshua.

"Quickly, David. Which do I press?"

"Press the one that looks like a sideways sombrero."

She hit it immediately.

"What next?" She said hurriedly.

The door began to lower back down.

Yeshua leapt down from the ramp, not bothering to run its full length, then headed straight for the blast door.

Elizabeth took a step back and bent over so she could see him.

"Press the symbol that looks like a trident, Elizabeth." Said David.

Elizabeth stood and scanned the symbols. She couldn't see it. There was nothing that looked like a trident. "Where?"

"It's above the others." David informed her.

She looked up. It was out of her reach.

"Oh, shit." She said and jumped frailly. Her hand missed it. She felt her legs shake as a juddering fatigue hit her. "Come on!" She scorned at herself.

She gathered up her strength and put it all into, what she was sure, would be her last shot at it. She was sure she would be too late. It was a dead cert that Yeshua would soon be stood next to her, holding her by her throat.

She crouched and pushed up hard and fast. Her aim was true...

There was no sound.

She waited for something to tell her the door was secure. "Is it locked?"

"Did you hit the button?" Asked David.

"Yes."

"Then it's locked. We need to get to the other ship. Yeshua has access to a mask. It won't be long till makes use of it, to be sure." Warned David.

Elizabeth leant against the wall for a moment. The running and the near death experiences were getting the better of her. "I can't do this. I need... food." She said under her breath.

"Elizabeth?"

She looked at David with an expression that said; _give it a rest, will you_?

"Come on then." She groaned under the exertion of bending and lifting. "I need to eat. This is getting too tough."

As she stood she felt light headed and needed another second to steady herself. She wiped the sweat from her brow and inhaled until her lungs were full.

"Are we still in spring training, Elizabeth?" Joked David, catching her by surprise.

Elizabeth laughed as they left the blast door behind, "Oh, spring training was ages ago." She said, "We're getting near Postseason now, David." She started to breathe heavily as she ran. "These are the dog days, Babe Ruth... the dog days... and there's no stopping us."


	11. The Ultimate Survivor

**Chapter Eleven: The Ultimate Survivor**

_First Contact on Earth by Yeshua, would technically be Second Contact; the First Contact having given rise to Homo sapiens' progenitors. 'First Contact', however, is the event humanity would call it for the brief time they had left to do so. The difficult part of the annihilation of a species was always the _thorough_ eradication. There were always stragglers. When a species reached the paradigm of deep space travel, they had to be tracked down. They also had the means to hide deep within their own planet and wait for the predatory life forms to die off. This was the stage where the hunt became much more personal. The cull would become a mostly singular event. They would always take many years._

_The life of the biological weapons that would be used, under normal conditions, was finite. When kept in storage conditions on board ship or at weapons depots, they could remain viable for many thousands of years with very little degradation to their physical structure. When subjected to normal atmospheric conditions, they would eventually decompose completely, their final stage of existence as a very effective fertiliser for local vegetation._

_Once the hybrids were gone and the weapons with them, the planet would become a Stage 3 planet awaiting federally approved genetic reassignment, endorsed by the senate. Yeshua would take sole responsibility for the acceleration of evolution. Once more, the original seeds of life of Earth, from the original Engineer's sacrifice, would be the only source of life thereon. Once again, it would be pure._

_Yeshua would dedicate himself totally to re-establishing the rightful, pure bloodline on the world. 10 billion hybrid humanoids extirpated and with them all other land based, higher life forms snuffed out collaterally._

_Yeshua's road would be hard, but necessary._

While Elizabeth stumbled weakly through the tunnel, Yeshua had bounded towards the surface. While the hybrid had not eaten for over twenty-four hours (and that being of scant nutritional value), Yeshua was well-sustained. He was strong, athletic and overwhelmingly driven by the destruction of his crew.

He found the ship sat waiting, its access ramp extended to the ground.

He had to be quick. If the hybrid had managed to gain access to the flight deck, she would ultimately have the means to lock him out and even cut off life support to him.

His years at the Academy were about to pay off. He knew the geography of the ship better than he knew the contours of his own face. He reached his destination less than a minute after boarding.

Elizabeth had indeed beaten him to it. The holographic chart was activated and the head she had been carrying around with her was talking to the ship's computer in Yeshua's own language, attempting to take control.

Yeshua's voice was roared as he bore down on Elizabeth, "Computer: disregard input and scan for recognised DNA source. Lock on to my voice/DNA combination to validate commands. Confirm."

"Voice/DNA recognition synchronised." Reported the computer.

"Scan for authorised DNA match on all further commands." Added Yeshua.

"Command acknowledged." Said the computer.

Without pause, Yeshua, grabbed David and threw him against the wall forcefully.

David closed his eyes to protect his visual receptors on impact. He rolled to a stop on the deck a few steps in front of Yeshua.

"Computer: Close off the flight deck." Yeshua said casually.

The door closed, cutting off any chance Elizabeth had to escape.

Yeshua stood over David, who was resting on his right side, as he watched Elizabeth cower behind a stasis chamber.

David looked up at the colossus who regarded him with disdain.

With one powerful strike, Yeshua stamped down hard, crushing the left hand side of David's head. He picked him up to check he'd made sufficient damage to the android. "Speak to me now, robot." Said Yeshua frigidly.

Yeshua looked at Elizabeth. "Alone now, little girl."

It wasn't long before he had hold of her. She had decided to save what remained of her strength. Yeshua slapped the ruined head of the once majestic David into her arms. "To keep you company." He said.

He reached the door out of the flight deck and told it to open. Once on the outside, he ordered it to close. He continued this all the way to the quarters that would double as a holding room.

He pushed her into the room. "You're going to witness the end of your species. I may even present you to them, so they have a figure to hold responsible. Someone to blame for their apocalyptic demise."

Elizabeth's response was simple, as she didn't understand one word of his promise to her: "Can I have some food, please?" She circled her palm over her stomach in the age old mime for hunger.

Yeshua stared at her and said two words before leaving her in darkness.

Elizabeth said nothing. She gently moved her hand over David's head. It was upsetting to hold. She stood and felt for the central table from which holograms and material facsimiles were produced.

David was silent. He had proven to be far hardier than Elizabeth would ever have believed. She was just incredibly thankful he had come through for her so many times... as futile as that had finally turned out to be.

Yeshua walked directly back to the flight deck. He still needed to load onboard the weapons. It was up to him which destructor he would choose.

It was a simple choice to make.

The cargo bay doors opened and the mechanical loaders scuttled off to the designated silo. The main transporter was a multi-legged, articulating convoy. It looked like a massive centipede. The loaders were smaller, eight-legged, spiderlike machines, with extending claws that were offered forward as it moved away, as though it was seeking out a fond embrace.

Now he had full control of the situation, he decided to check on the other ship and his crew members. Peter was dead: killed by the Polymorph. Asherah and Baal were dead: killed by the biped. Only Odin and Kane remained. "Computer: remote over-ride of Vessel Alpha security protocols and remove lock down orders. Confirm."

The computer responded after a couple of seconds: "Control of Vessel Alpha established."

Yeshua was puzzled. "Computer: why did that order take so long to carry out?"

"Voice/DNA recognition in place." Answered the computer.

"Computer: remove voice/DNA recognition... and deny exit internally from Quarter 3 on Deck 2." Ordered Yeshua.

"Voice/DNA recognition removed. Internal commands for exit of Quarter 3 Deck 2 disabled." Said the computer.

Yeshua spoke to his original ship: "Vessel Alpha, this is Yeshua. I have taken control of Bravo. Please respond."

He waited for a reply. There was no reason why they couldn't respond immediately. Their ship now had voice recognition back online. If they were alive, they could respond.

Yeshua considered the possibility that they may be unconscious. "Computer: check for life signs on Alpha."

"No life signs detected." The computer said, without emotion.

Yeshua fell to one knee then back into a sitting position and said no more. He placed his hands over his face and tried to keep himself composed. Now was not the time to scream and shout. He would be able to take out his anger on the hybrids of Earth.

Until then, he would wait for the loaders to complete their task, in readiness for the moment he could begin his mission.

It took half an hour for the loaders to load three hundred eggs. Amongst them were the potential for thirty queens. Death would be dealt at an exponential rate, from the mountainous forests of the Yukon to the penguin rich tip of Chile; from the Fjords of Norway to the shark infested waters of South Africa; and from the freezing tundra of Siberia to the venomous bush of Australia.

Then there would be the hunt for those who had ventured into deep space.

And he would do it all alone. The only obstacle he foresaw was loneliness. The mission would not take less than two or three years to complete. The six crew members were basically there to keep each other company. The ship could fly itself. There was no real need for a Stores Officer, or a Logistics Officer, or a Weapons Officer. The titles were, again, part of the tradition of the early space travellers. They represented the courage and vision of those had come before them. The only rank that was necessary was Captain; the one who gives direction to mission. The only two titles that anyone really wanted was Captain, or Weapons.

Yeshua stood to the side of the 'Jockey' seat, the significance of it not lost on him, before climbing up. This was his first command. The first of many, he hoped.

His mouth suddenly felt dry and there was a pang of hunger. He decided he would ignore the need to eat for now. Food would come later after he had left the orbit of the satellite and selected the destination.

He rested back as the flight mask closed around his head, the seat restraints hugging him securely in position.

The head-up-display illuminated inside the mask and he decided to turn off automatic pilot. This was his first take-off on his first mission and he was doing it as acting Captain. He would fly manually for now.

He moved his hands over the attitude controls and gave a voice command: "Computer: Open outer hatch doors and energise auxiliary drive."

The ship rose towards the moon's surface and the thrusters powered up silently.

There was no countdown. The vessel took to the air as soon as it was clear and ascended through the clouds as though it was the first hypersonic hot air balloon, its only visible effect on the sky being vapour trails emanating from its port and starboard fins and the vortex swirls as it passed through the clouds.

He rolled his left hand forward as he left the atmosphere and the nose of the ship dipped. He rolled his right hand left to yaw left and finally rolled his right hand to the right to turn right on the horizontal plane.

The ship's computer confirmed he was on course for Earth.

He licked his lips as the dryness became more distracting. "Energise galaxy-drive, computer."

There were no physical effects on the body as the craft went from take-off velocity at around 2,000 miles per hour, to its interstellar transit speed in the Hyperlight range.

He closed his eyes and relaxed. Thoughts other than those connected to the flight began to flit through his mind. He thought about the events that had transpired in the last hour alone. His crewmates- his new family- were all dead, and now he was on his way.

He coughed and was distracted by a feeling like heartburn inside his chest. It was a fiery tingling like cold feet entering a hot bath. He concluded he needed to eat and he needed to drink. Stress had obviously begun to take its toll on his body. The stasis pod would see to that. An hour of regeneration would be all he needed to restore perfect health.

He checked the course and the speed. It would be three days before he arrived in Earth's orbit.

He grimaced once more inside the mask as he was hit again by the discomfort. But this was no longer just an unpleasant feeling. This was pain. Real pain. Something was wrong. _It can't be my heart,_ he thought, but not without a feeling of growing concern.

"Computer: body scan. There's a pain in my chest." He said worriedly.

A rapid tomographical scan swept down his body from head to feet that lasted just a few seconds.

The computer gave its result: "Xenomorph located in lower thorax."

Yeshua's eyes widened and he felt a cold sweat cover his body. His next words were there in his head. He tried desperately to give the order to the computer- _Computer: emergency hypostasis. Send distress beacon to all ships of Xenomorph warning._ In his mind he could see himself breaking from the jockey seat and heading for a stasis pod from where his condition could be neutralised.

The only word he produced was: "Computer-"

The Xenomorph thrust against Yeshua's chest from the inside causing his sternum to snap and puncture the surface. Then one more assault against the outer wall and it emerged, shrieking fiercely at the world around it.

Yeshua trembled as the life left him and gripped at the flight controls as he did so. He wanted to tell the computer to disable manual flight and audio commands and enable control via his neural cortex for instantaneous input... but the words didn't come. His last input was accidental as he flapped at the controls. The ship's course altered minutely setting on an unknown trajectory.

As the immature alien sped from the site of its birth looking for cover, Yeshua expelled the remaining air from his lungs and the process of brain death began. His life would not be infinite after all.

While all this was taking place, Elizabeth lay quietly on the soft bed in the quarters. She had worked out what Yeshua had said to her; the two words. There was an object on the facsimile table. It had turned out to be a flavourless stick that was soft and dissolved easily in the mouth. There was no enjoyment in the act of eating, but her hunger had abated quickly.

She almost felt comfortable. She had become so inured to the feeling of constant terror, just to be warm and have a full stomach was something positive.

Then all happy thoughts were gone. She heard a scratching sound nearby and for a moment had a vision of rats scampering about.

_On an advanced alien ship; on an inhospitable moon? _She thought. _But these could be a species of super-rodent that had evolved to live here_.

But the scratching now seemed to have a pattern and timbre to it. It was a voice... and it was saying her name!

It came as a relief to her that she was finally losing her mind. Hopefully the pain she would suffer would be less for it. It would be someone else suffering in her place. Some mad-woman who-

"Elizabeth? Can you hear me?"

It took far longer than it should for her to work out the sound was coming from David's auditory canal. It was much quieter than when they were in the Seeding Room, but she could hear him nonetheless.

"David- I can't believe it. You're alive." Said Elizabeth excitedly.

"Not technically." Said David.

"I don't care. You're not dead. That's all that matters. Whatever it is you call life: you have it."

"I have to warn you: my power cells have been critically damaged. They will be depleted prematurely. I calculate I have no more than twenty minutes of run time remaining." Said David.

"Oh, David" She said dejectedly. "This is, without a doubt, the very worst holiday I've ever been on. From start to finish."

"You must complain to the travel agents when you get back."

Elizabeth laughed. "Thank you, David." She laughed harder than she thought possible. It was a laugh that hurt her stomach and she curled over onto the floor until it subsided.

There was, what Elizabeth would normally term, a comfortable silence between them and she thought of telling David to switch himself off. "How do I get you back on if you switch off?

"Shake my head. But I would advise against being too rough, taking into consideration my current condition."

She was going to thank him and tell him to power off, but before she did, her mind went back to the corridor with Baal and Asherah. Those words she'd shouted that had so infuriated the big woman. "What did those words mean, David?"

"To which words do you refer?"

"'Hakan Sukar'? The words I shouted at the big woman."

"I believe you mean 'Vakan Kabira'. It means 'giant fungus'. It's a tremendous insult to their people."

Once more, she started to laugh. She couldn't believe just how crazy things had got. It was like being in an alternate reality where the insanely absurd was commonplace.

"Oh, David... I'm gonna be dead soon, aren't I?..." She said almost dreamily and went quiet. She spoke as if resolved to her fate. "I'm gonna get some sleep. Goodnight, David"

"Sweet dreams, Elizabeth." Said David and cut his power feed.

It wasn't long before Elizabeth had drifted off too.

When she awoke, her mind had taken her back home to England and her lovely bedroom. It must still be the middle of the night: the room was pitch black. She rolled over to her left to check the time on her alarm clock.

But there was no alarm clock there.

She was on an alien spaceship.

She was going to die.

"David?"

He was silent.

She wiped dried tears from around her eyes and stared into the darkness of the room. The memory of everything that had happened went through her mind like a procession of the damned. The cave drawings; the approach from Weyland Industries; the Prometheus; the catacombs and the alien head; her final night with Charlie; the journey back into the cave and the discovery of the biologist- she shook her head. It had only been two weeks, but she had already forgotten his name. She felt she should be mad at herself for not remembering. But she was surprised to find she had no emotions at all about him... then she remembered the murder of Charlie by Meredith Vickers... she began to weep once more and pulled her legs up to her chest to try to feel a little less vulnerable and alone.

She squeezed her eyes closed. She didn't want to think about the bad things for a while. Her life had become one steady stream of _bad_. She decided she would go back to a happier time. A time when-

There was light! The door began to open. Her mind was suddenly on full alert and processing everything causing the moment to last longer than it actually did. There were feet... then legs... then hips- she could tell it was Yeshua already- she tried to prepare herself for whatever punishment he would rain down on her.

As the opening door revealed his torso, she felt as though there was something different. He was thicker, maybe, around the middle, though she dismissed this as error on her behalf.

And there was blood. Lots of blood. Something had happened to him while she'd been asleep.

_I'm gonna pay for that,_ she thought soberly. _He's going to take that out on _me.

His muscular shoulders appeared, followed by his face.

He took a step inside the doorway and said something in his language. The room illuminated.

The man reached back out to the wall on the other side of the door and she could hear buttons being pressed.

It wasn't Yeshua. It wasn't the man who had considered her his property. This was another man.

This was Kane...

... and he looked really pissed off.


	12. The Perfect Organism (Part One)

**Chapter Twelve: The Perfect Organism (Part One)**

_It was as close to death as Kane had ever come. There had been times in his life where he had taken part in adrenaline fuelled activities; he had seen the deaths of many millions of people in horrible ways; and he had inflicted the death blow on many with his own hands (and feet)- the Follower during the Harvest was his latest victim... but he had never been so close to death as this in all his many thousands of years._

_It wasn't the Polymorph that had taken him closest to the edge of oblivion, though if Odin hadn't stepped in, it probably would have caused his demise..._

_Peter had been decapitated before his eyes and the red mist had descended._

_The Polymorph stalked, close to the wall. Odin tried to approach from behind, while Kane hit it straight on._

_The tail whipped at Odin and only his nimble footing allowed him to avoid injury._

_Kane attacked, the fangs of the monster coming close to his face as he leapt on top of it._

_But the creature was elusive; its skin slackened, its skeleton shifted within its form and Kane lost his grip, slipping off, onto the floor. The Polymorph clawed at him and lacerated his arm, though not deep enough to cause significant harm._

_Odin leapt forward and planted himself around the animal's middle, its spines pushing up into him. He took the pain._

_Kane was already on his feet and going for its head._

_Odin growled angrily, the spikes covering its back extending fully, penetrating his body. He could feel its vertebrate form struggling to free itself. Odin's voice was desperate as the spikes penetrated deeper. "Be quick!"_

_Kane grabbed at its throat and landed repeated punches at the top of its head, the Polymorph making abbreviated guttural blasts each time a shot landed._

_The Polymorph shook violently, finally throwing Odin from its back, immediately retracting its spines as it did so._

_The blood flowed from the damage it had meted out on his torso._

_As Kane threw a bomb with his right hand down at it, it craned its neck and caught the fist in its teeth, biting down hard. Without a second's pause, it whipped its tail round at him, its sharp point cutting through the air and heading straight for his face._

_There was nothing Kane could do to avoid it. He was on his knees, his hand was being gripped strongly, keeping him off-balance. All he could do was turn away and hope its aim was bad. But this was a vain hope, and he knew it._

_Kane waited. The spear didn't land. It had missed, he thought. He turned his head to continue his barrage upon the animal..._

_It was Odin. He was stood like stone in the area the tail had been aiming from._

_He had sacrificed himself._

_The Polymorph's tail had hit him with such force, it had pierced through his abdomen and was visible sticking out from the other side. The tip was dripping the man's blood as it stuck out from his back._

_Kane could do nothing for him. The ship's computer was down. There would be no medical back-up. His injuries were fatal._

_Kane turned his focus back on the Polymorph, who was pulling back against Kane's arm, trying to rip the flesh from his bones. He had to do something quick and hope he could make it to the other ship._

_He grabbed the animal's scowling top lip and pulled back with enormous force, his strength multiplied in ferocity by his urgency._

_There was a groaning sound and the animal screeched as the skin peeled away from the skull as he rapidly dragged it back over its skull, uncovering a glistening membrane beneath._

_The Polymorph released his wrist as it tried to save itself. But its efforts were just an exercise in futility. It thrashed one last time and was still as Kane crushed its upper spinal column under the sole of his boot._

_Kane checked his wrist quickly. The slits were clean, but had missed his major arteries. There was blood seeping out, and a few tendons had been severed, but he would live._

_He crouched down next to Odin. His eyes were already lifeless and there were no signs of breathing. He was dead._

_He made a decision to save his mourning for later. The architect of all this destruction had to pay first. It was the hybrid. She had to die... and he hoped it would be he who throttled the final breath from her lungs._

_It made sense that she had fled for another ship. She would be able to release the weapons on the crew and make her escape._

_Kane bolted after his mark._

_He passed Baal and Asherah, stoking his fire further. The furnace was blazing._

_He left the ship and found the blast doors closed._

_On returning to the exit of the craft, he found the masks gone. With any luck, Yeshua had taken one and made his way over ground. But then again, Yeshua may also be somewhere on the ship, killed by the Biped._

_It was all on him. He had to make it to the next ship. He would not allow that the hybrid's self-emancipation be successful._

_He had to go via the surface. It was the only way._

_Four hundred metres._

_The oxygen levels in the moon's atmosphere just two percent._

_He would start to asphyxiate as soon as he tried to fill his lungs. There was only so far he could go on one breath, maybe one hundred metres, and he would need to repay the oxygen debt in his system if he wanted to go any further._

_He climbed up to the outer hatch and readied himself, taking in sharp breaths, before one final almighty inhalation._

_As he made his way out, the heat from the binary suns hit his skin. It felt good. If he was going to die, he would die with the stars smiling down on his corpse._

_He ran fast, but not so fast that his first breath would have to be deep. He would try to swallow back down the oxygen he expelled until it was all depleted- a gigantic task in itself. He judged he would get to recirculate five times- maximum. It was the intensity of his need for air that would compromise his theory._

_He could see his destination already. It wasn't far by any means, but under the circumstances, it was like travelling to the next galaxy._

_The need to inhale began to press upon him. He exhaled into his mouth and swallowed back down... it was useless. He needed to breathe. His body screamed to take in a proper lungful. Short, recycled air was not enough._

_His mouth opened, his intercostal muscles contracted and the air was sucked in._

_He fell to the ground, a grimace on his face. He wanted to yell with the discomfort, but all he made was a strangled heave._

_The next two hundred-plus metres would be torturous._

_He struggled to his feet and leant forward allowing his constant falling gait to carry him as far as it could until he crashed to the ground once more._

_As he progressed, his breathing got more desperate and stressed; his paces between falls grew fewer and fewer; and his brain functions slowly diminished, taking with it his vision and other senses._

_He could feel the sharp chafing growing more intense on his palms and his knees, though it was more of a dull, raw sensation than anything else._

I'm not going to make it, _he thought._

_Instantly, as he spoke the words in his head, adrenaline was released into his bloodstream, trying to kick-start his advance. There was little oxygen entering his body. Cell respiration was minimal. But he wouldn't allow himself to feel defeat. He would make it, even if his last step caused his head to explode- which is how it was beginning to feel, he would make it._

_His steps were short, but he was still moving forward. His tenacity was relentless. His focus: total. And through his struggles, his mind wandered from its main objective, taking him past the hatch; the shock of where he was and the loss of strength catching him by surprise._

_He staggered back and fell down next to the entrance. He pulled the handle up, the hatch opening mechanically, allowing him to crawl through into the oxygen rich environment._

_The ship's walkway and entrance was still fifty metres from him. It was pure instinct and muscle memory that carried him on. Something inside him told him he needed to get on board, and fast. The door could close at any time and he needed to be on the other side when it did._

_Kane crawled the final few metres and fell unconscious before the door closed behind him. The lack of oxygen to the brain, combined with his other injuries had taken its toll. His head had pounded with the ruptured blood vessels. His eyes were like black-blue marbles. The gradual slide into the comatose state came as a great relief._

_As he slept, the weapons were loaded onto the ship before Yeshua climbed into the jockey seat and piloted the ship onto its mission..._

Kane opened his eyes. The explosions taking place inside his head were still accosting his mental faculties. He spoke without thinking: "Computer: medical emergency- main hatch, level one."

The corridors illuminated from the storage area to where Kane lay in stupor. The medical droids deployed at speed.

Kane's eyes remained closed as he was scanned. Moments later, and the treatment began. The deep wounds from the Polymorph were resealed and tendons rejoined, leaving no traces of laceration. The banging in his head dissipated as the cells in his brain were regenerated.

Treatment took less than thirty seconds, though the blood remained covering his body as a reminder of the battle he had fought alongside Odin.

He got to his feet without effort, as though the life-threatening injuries so recently sustained had never been inflicted. "Computer: Location of Yeshua."

"Yeshua is located on the flight deck." Said the computer flatly and Kane felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Status: Deceased."

Kane was caught off-guard by the final statement. "Computer: restate." He could feel his body start to shake with trauma and rage.

The computer repeated its words.

Kane looked at the floor and clenched his fists as he thought. "Computer: location of hybrid."

"Hybrid species located in Quarter 3, Deck 2."

Kane imagined her with a look of smug satisfaction on her face at what she had achieved, and all the while, Yeshua laid cold and dead on the flight deck. Dead by her hands. He would take great pleasure in killing her.

His pace quickened. He took the stairway three steps at a time and made his way towards the living quarters.

The door was locked from the outside and there was a red light illuminated next to the door. Kane was confused. How could Yeshua be dead when his killer was locked up?

It was a question he would find the answer to later. His impatience for revenge was dragging him relentlessly on.

"Unlock the door." The red light extinguished and the door rose. He stepped inside and pressed the button to keep it open. "Lights."

The hybrid was indeed resting and it gave him an inner delight to see the fear come across her face. Kane had decided he was going to break her limbs first, then induce crepitus on the fractured ends. Unlike Yeshua, he didn't care much for mental suffering. He was more clean and clinical. Physical agony, followed by death. No flare and no flamboyance.

He looked her in the eyes. He couldn't see fear yet, just an uneasy anticipation of what he was going to do. She was either colossally brave or colossally stupid. He didn't really care which. It made no difference to what he would do to her.

He took a step towards her and she squirmed back against the wall.

"It was bravado." He observed. She was neither brave, nor stupid, just deceptive.

But there was something out of place now. Her expression altered dramatically. Her eyes were wide and her mouth agape. He hadn't expected to see such a look until he had hold of her.

Then there it was. He stopped as the realisation hit him. He had seen this look before on the faces of millions; this look of sheer, absolute, reality-defying terror. A look that what they were seeing couldn't possibly be real outside of their nightmares. A look that told them they were in the presence of Death.

A simple question in his head: _How?_

But it didn't matter 'how'. All that mattered was that it was here and it was behind him.

He turned as it lowered itself down from above, rising to its full height before him.

It was big. He had never seen one this big before. It was even bigger than he.

It truly was the perfect organism. The Xenomorph. The destroyer of worlds.

And then the 'how' finally permeated its way into his mind. There was no other way. The computer had told him as much when he asked it. It had given him all the clues needed, he had just been too eager to exact revenge to put it all together.

With what breath he had left inside him, he spoke just one word: "Yeshua."


	13. The Perfect Organism (Part Two)

**Chapter Thirteen: The Perfect Organism (Part Two)**

_Kane would've been ashen, if his already pallid complexion had been able to show the contrast. The Xenomorph was at full height, a giant lurking shape with an intimidating, drooling, vicious grin that extended out before it._

_A million and one things went through Kane's mind. There were so many things that were necessary with a Xenomorph loose on a space borne ship. He had to fight; he wanted to run; he needed to evade... but he also needed to think about the safety of the cosmos- he had to set the ship down in case he was killed. He couldn't order the ship to return home: it was laden with Xenomorphs. And he couldn't leave it to crash on a populated planet (not without orders to annihilate the indigenous population, anyway)._

_He stumbled back away from the slowly advancing shadow and began rapidly machine gunning his orders: "Computer: deploy P.R.M.; alter course to nearest non-viable planetoid and-" He was halted as he backed into the facsimile table on which David lay. His hand instinctively reached behind, accidentally knocking him and exciting David's internal giro which reactivated his operating network._

_David's eye-lids opened._

_The Xenomorph glanced at the head with the moving eyes, but then back at Kane, realising there was no threat._

_David's processors went into overdrive. He was experiencing what a human would identify as 'awe'. He'd never seen anything like it. There was no animal he'd ever perceived that compared to the physicality of what he was seeing with his very own optical receptors. This was the creature he had once had inside his own head that the facehugger had deposited. He had, in a way, fathered this majestic animal by ejaculating its seed into the glass from which Yeshua had then drank. This was the creature that should have exploded from Elizabeth and there was a part of him that would have exchanged her life to see and study what was now before him._

[Preserve Life / Obtain information for the company]

_When the information was so black and white, there was no issue of morality. The cognitive dissonance imbued by his programming caused the possibility of conflict within him._

_But for now, he would absorb as much as he could while the opportunity presented itself._

_Kane continued his order to the computer: "- alter course to nearest non-viable planetoid and issue warning beacon. Generate Ion Mitt."_

_Elizabeth had pushed herself into the corner, but now, Kane was retreating towards her. This was good in that he obscured the alien's view of her, but was also bringing the thing closer in proximity. She prepared herself to dart as soon as the opportunity arose._

_The Xenomorph hissed and charged towards Kane. It ran diagonally to the right, its movement looking strange and unorthodox, forcing Kane to break in the opposite direction. The Xenomorphs attack zagged back to the left in a pre-emptive move, to the exact point in which Kane had moved. Kane found himself immediately beneath the monster and having to defend himself from multiple attacks. His strength was huge, but the Xenomorph's was greater. And it was fuelled by a limitless hostility that had been engineered into it. The only thing Kane had going for him was the knowledge of the animal's physiology and the technology to which he had access. What was restricting him was the ability to reach the only weapon the space craft allowed on board. The Ion Mitt. A non-lethal glove that emitted a release of ionic particles to stun and subdue its target._

_It was currently being formed within the replicator._

_The other piece of technology he had requested was the P.R.M.: Personal Regenerator Module. It was a small device that fixed itself to the small of the back and would regenerate damaged tissue as a continual process. It was Kane's only hope of escape... if it arrived in time._

_The alien screamed at Kane and he kicked a boot up into the midriff. He expected the fiery drip of acid onto his body. The Xenomorph's armour was tough, but there was always the chance of fracture and from the fissure would come yet another weapon. There was none this time._

_There was a pincer move on Kane's head. First came the driving tail that whipped down towards his face._

_He flung his head to the left._

_Then came the ferocious tongue._

_Again, Kane knew what was coming as soon as the mouth opened and he drove his head back against the jagged tail end._

_The extended jaw ripped through his ear, slicing it in two. In the confusion of the skirmish, he was thankfully excused any pain._

_Kane delved harder into his reservoirs of fortitude and trained his efforts into throwing the creature to the side. He needed to get out from under it for the regenerator to be able to attach itself, and to get to the mitt._

_The thing lost its grip on him and slid across the floor. It immediately scrambled to its feet, its sharp claws scraping against the hard surface until it righted itself._

_Kane grabbed the table, but the weapon he demanded was still not available. He felt as though he'd been fighting for half an hour- in reality, it had been only half a minute. The mitt would take around sixty seconds to craft._

_In through the door came a small device that glided silently, but swiftly, about a metre above the ground. It located Kane with an exponentially increasing set of beeps and attached itself to the small of his back, locking into place with six, diametrically opposed claws. He winced for a second, before the P.R.M activated and began treating the wounds. His ear tingled as the two disparate flaps of skin knitted back together._

_Kane glanced back at the table more in vain hope than anything else. He would have to fight without the weapon._

_The initial shock of Xenomorph's presence had worn off. There had been an enormous release of adrenaline into his bloodstream that had promoted panic. When the Xenomorph came forward again, Kane felt more encouraged especially with the appearance of his medical aid, though his confidence didn't extend to hubris. It would hopefully give him more time._

_But it was useless without the mitt._

_As they clashed once more, Elizabeth took her chance. She made an audible heave as she sprang from the bed and made for the open doorway._

_Kane punched three aimed shots at the Xenomorph, knocking it slightly off balance in the direction of Elizabeth's route._

_Elizabeth saw that she was going to hit the monster and managed to slide underneath its elevated tail like a Jamaican limbo dancer. She didn't look back as she made her exodus. But even as the escape got closer, she imagined another one of the large black creatures crawling in just like the other had from under the doorframe. She ducked as she exited and looked both ways before bolting as fast as she could._

_David logged her escape though the vast majority of his neural matrix was set to processing the encounter between the Engineer and his weapon. "Magnificent." He said in a hushed tone. Though his power unit would be exhausted very soon, the fascination he was experiencing made it all worthwhile._

_Another attack and Kane found himself backed up against the wall with the Xenomorph's sharp tail penetrating through his centre. He grimaced in pain hoping it would withdraw, and quick._

_The tongue shot out at his forehead and he managed to avoid it._

_He felt a ratchet like tug as the tail pulled back out, causing him to exhale involuntarily. He felt his knees buckle slightly and he prayed the regenerator would work quickly. Through gritted teeth he requested an update. "Computer: how long for the ion mitt?"_

_The Xenomorph snapped its tongue at him again, taking a slice of flesh out of the side of his head._

_The energy he was having to exert muffled the yell inside his closed mouth._

"_Ion mitt ready." Said the computer, seemingly unconcerned at the mortal danger of its master._

_Kane glanced over quickly. The mitt was lying next to the decapitated head._

_The Xenomorph's claw broke free of Kane's hand and thrust into his side. The wounds it was inflicting were occurring faster than was the capacity of the P.R.M. to repair._

_Desperately, he pushed against the animal, but it was unrelenting._

_A tail, a claw and a snap of its jaws, each one inflicting more injuries. This was not going to end well and he knew it. He would not be able to get to the mitt and his wounds were not going to heal fast enough._

_It was his destiny to fall at the hands of his people's greatest achievement in weaponry and a feeling of elation flowed through him. He almost welcomed his fate. He was thankful he was on his feet when it happened._

_Defiantly, he turned his head towards the evil smiling face and leant in closer. There was a second before anything happened. It was as though the Xenomorph was in shock that its superiority was being challenged by this lesser entity._

_Kane let forth a billowing roar that would've crumpled any ordinary opponent. But this opponent was not ordinary. It was extraordinary in every way, just as David had observed._

_As the tongue shot forward, Kane pulled his head back reactively. It stopped as it hit the wall and the tongue penetrated through side of his head._

_Blood spurted from the gaping hole that was left after the tongue retracted and he fell to the floor and onto his side, twitching just once before falling still. On his back, continued to pulse the P.R.M. Its function was to repair tissue damage and promote life. Reanimation on the other hand, with massive brain trauma into the bargain, was a much more complex endeavour._

_The Xenomorph stood over its prey and crouched down as though sniffing its vanquished foe. As one last show of authority, it took a few chunks of meat from his corpse before heading off after its next prey. Elizabeth._

_David watched it vanish into the corridor, a reverential smile on his face. He processed the information that was flowing into his mechanical brain. He had to find a way to communicate it back to the company. It was vital he try to inform them of the existence of such a unique creature. Kane had accessed the computer. Obviously, Yeshua's command had been reset upon his expiration. He would try himself. "Computer: acknowledge."_

"_Please state your inquiry." Came the drone-like reply._

_David's smile didn't wane. "Capital." He stated with excitement and he began to make his transmission back to Earth where it would hopefully be received by the Weyland Corporation, many decades from now._

_The Xenomorph would not be lost..._

Elizabeth had not stopped running since she left the Quarters. She had no idea where she would go and her once brilliant mind seemed to have betrayed her for the time being. The ability for cogent thinking had left her.

Each time she turned a corner, she expected the grinning shadow to be waiting for her, its lips quivering and rancid saliva dripping as it shot that hideous looking tongue at her.

There was only one place she really knew how to get to, and that was the flight deck. But she couldn't fly the ship without David and she couldn't kill the monster. The extra time she was giving herself by running was going to be fruitless. She knew she was delusional to even think she could survive this. Her whole existence now had become just one long fight for survival. What was the point?

She slowed to a walk.

That was a really good question. The most pertinent one. What was the point? There was no way out of this; no way home; her life would never be happy or worthwhile; there would be no more picnics or barbeques in the sun; no birthday parties, or hugs from loved ones- what few she had: Charlie was gone-

_You have the baby, _came the thought.

The baby, yes! There _was_ a reason to try. She had to try for the life she had growing rapidly inside her. David had told her Yeshua had accelerated its gestation period. Nine months in one week.

She turned sharply to look over her shoulder.

The way was still clear.

She hurried off towards the flight deck, though what she would do there, she still didn't know.


	14. The Labyrinth

**Chapter Fourteen: The Labyrinth**

_His anatomical equilibrium shifted until parity was restored. Cells were replaced and re-jiggered until all organs were fully functional and skin tissues renewed._

_One thing the regenerator could not restore where cerebral damage was an issue, however, was the original 'self'. His brain worked perfectly, but his memory centres had been reconstructed minus some of their earlier content._

_Kane opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. He knew _who_ he was at a fundamental level, but not _where_ and _why_._

_He heard a voice speaking nearby, but as soon as he moved, the words ceased abruptly._

"_Who's there?" He sat up and looked around the room. "Hello?"_

_He felt the awkwardness you feel when you talk into an empty room._

_Maybe he'd imagined the voice, he thought._

_He wriggled slightly. There was something pressed against the small of his back in the lumbar region. He winced as he pulled it and thought better of trying to remove it._

"_Where am I?" He asked himself._

_He stood and walked over to the large oblong table in the centre of the room. On it laid two objects. One was a small, decapitated head- a robot of some design- and the other was a metallic looking glove with a diamond-mesh pattern covering it._

_His brow furrowed as he looked around the floor for other one. It seemed to be alone. Just the right-hand available._

_He picked up the undersized head and looked at the face. "Ugly thing. Who are _you_?" He didn't expect it to answer and he was right not to._

_David wasn't about to give himself away. It was obvious what had happened. The man was now a purposeless hulk. A reanimated and empty husk. David decided to hold patient till the man inevitably left to explore his unfamiliar surroundings. And when he _did _leave, he didn't rate the guy's chances very highly- not in the current environment, anyway._

_Kane dropped him back onto the table and grumbled to himself. He had many questions and he needed to find someone to whom he could ask them._

_As he left the room, David heard him pondering his surroundings further: "What kind of building _is_ this?" He walked down the corridor. "Hello?!"_

_David judged his chances of survival were falling with every loud utterance. And he had left his only realistic form of defence on the table: the Ion Mitt._

_Very soon, his footsteps and his words were no longer within range and David returned to his own plans, as discordant as they were._

_The dissonance explicit within his primary objectives continued to cause conflict within his mind._

_Serve the company/ Accumulate information/ Preserve life._

_The Weyland Corporation._

_The Xenomorph._

_Elizabeth._

_His actions had caused the death of Charlie and the violation of Elizabeth's body. If he had a conscience, his goals now would be clear... but his programmers had not provided him with that particular ball and chain._

_Things were not going to be straight forward..._

Elizabeth wasn't a fool. She knew things had gotten tight.

Tighter.

It was only after she had been running for an age and when the doors were not where she expected them to be, that she realised she was lost.She had a hitch in her get-along, to be sure, but the distance she was now covering was in completely the wrong direction.

She stopped and listened for scrambling footsteps before trying to retrace her steps.

The monster was everywhere. It was at the end of every passageway, behind every door and forcing its way into every thought.

Her heart was pounding almost uncontrollably. She could hear it thudding in her ears.

She grabbed the walls with the palms of her sweaty hands in an effort to pull herself forward. "Come on, Ellie." She berated herself. "You gotta get going. Come on!"

It was difficult. The effort she was exerting to overcome the feeling of vertigo was draining her. But she knew she had only two choices: stall and be attacked and killed by something from her worst nightmares, or give herself a chance of life.

Tears welled up and her lip quivered as she compelled herself to continue. It was as though each different terror she experienced was so much more incapacitating than the last.

One foot at a time she edged closer to the last corridor she had turned off. She felt like a child as she advanced the dimensions of the place was so great.

She poked her head around the corner, the dark, smiling face prominent in her mind... but it wasn't there. It was clear.

She knew she had to go faster than this. She was just handing herself over to the creature if she continued travelling at this pace.

Her feet lifted unsteadily as she broke into a trot.

"Keep going." She encouraged herself.

She was sure she needed to take the next left. She was sure. She thought she recognised the configuration of the corridor she was on from when she and David had first boarded the ship. One more left and then a right onto the flight deck. That was it.

But when she reached it, it wasn't an accessway at all. It was merely an alcove. "No." She turned quickly.

Had she heard something?

She listened closely. The pounding in her ears still blocking her aural senses intermittently.

There it was again! It was a ticking sound. Through her muffled hearing it was almost impossible to work out from which way it was originating.

Tick.

Tick-tick-tick. It was rapid.

She looked to her left, then back to her right. She had to move.

She bolted in the direction she had come, only this time, she didn't turn off. She kept going until she came to the end of the corridor, looking both ways hurriedly.

Both ways were clear.

She was about to run to the right, when she saw a dark shape sprint past the junction at the end.

It was Kane.

But it couldn't be. How did he escape? Unless it was another one of his crewmates. Or maybe it was Yeshua. Somehow brought back to life.

Her mind freewheeled. She couldn't think of anything. Nothing would grip.

Moments later, the Xenomorph appeared briefly tearing after him.

She turned and ran. There was no discussion with herself this time; there was no 'shall I go this way' or 'shall I go that way'? She just ran as fast as she could.

She took a left, then another left, until finally she found herself in a dead end.

There was no hesitation. She turned back around and just kept searching. She needed to find the room with the stasis pods. If all else failed, maybe she could lock herself in there and sleep for eternity. There would be no monsters in her sleep... but there would be, she corrected herself. There will always be monsters from now on in.

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!" She needed to keep running.

And _there_ were the footsteps again... they were close.

_In front or behind,_ she asked herself desperately? _Where were they coming from?_

She skidded to a halt, prone, ready to move at the first sight of danger.

Without delay, Kane burst around the corner, followed more closely than last time by the Xenomorph. They were only about thirty metres away. Mere seconds in reality.

There was blind panic on the Engineer's face. She almost didn't recognise him as the same man, the one who had shown such fortitude last time.

She turned quickly, noticing the closed door next to her immediately. Something told her it was the door she wanted.

She remembered the words Yeshua had used as he dragged her to the Quarters not three hours earlier. The three words.

"Close." She said in the alien language. "Computer. Open." The door rocketed open but caught her by surprise and she couldn't stop herself from saying the next word again. "Close." The door shot back down.

She wasn't going to make it.

She screamed at the door and sprang forward in anticipation before she had even completed the word. If she said the wrong one again, she would clatter into the door and be leapt on by the monster. There were no choices left: "Open!"

The door disappeared up and in she dove. The footsteps behind her were close enough that she was sure she could feel their vibrations. "Close!"

The door came back down in the blink of an eye and she glimpsed the scene on the other side just before it cut them off. The Xenomorph was pouncing on Kane and she could see the understanding on his face that this was it. Simultaneously, the smiling, eyeless face of the Xenomorph seemed to penetrate her. It was like a photograph she knew she would never be able to discard. It would be with her for as long as she drew breath.

And with it the strangled yelp of Kane, cut-off by the closing door.

She landed on the floor in the sitting position. She didn't move. She was in shock. Not like the shock on board Prometheus after hyper sleep. This was real shock. Shock brought on by trauma, not just by feeling 'a little bit queasy'.

She pushed herself back, away from the entrance. She had to put distance between herself and what had just happened. It was all too much.

Her mouth hung open; her face blank.

_He wasn't screaming, _she thought. _Why wasn't he screaming? _But it was obvious why: screaming is for crowds, movies and little kids. Mortal danger is accompanied only by silence and a determination to stay alive. She had read how falling mountaineers never scream when they plummet towards certain death. The Engineer had known what was coming. However he'd escaped last time, this time she could see it on his face. He knew it was over. This was it: certain death.

She could feel nausea sweep over her and a dizziness engulf her senses. She knew what was coming next and she was glad of it. She knew that in the unconscious moments to come, she didn't have to worry about R.E.M. or dream states. This was a different type of sleep. A better one for right now.

And as she passed out, she praised herself that she hadn't started to cry.


	15. Breathing Space

**Chapter Fifteen: Breathing Space**

_Kane whimpered feebly but the thing showed no signs it was going to take pity on him. It moved deliberately through the corridors as if it knew exactly where it was going. The Xenomorph's victim would normally be unconscious at this point in the proceedings (as it was being dragged back to the lair; the lair in this case being the cargo hold of the spaceship). Kane had fallen unconscious after inhaling the neural toxin secreted by the Xenomorph's phalanges; the same neural inhibitor that caused loss of consciousness after the facehugger had successfully attached itself._

_Kane was defenceless against it. He was paralysed with fright. He was a pale shadow of the warrior he had once been._

_The Xenomorph's pace was quick taking into consideration its heavy load and they entered the cargo hold in next to no time._

_Kane was dragged towards the wall and lifted upright as the creature scaled upwards. A dark, viscous resin was deposited over him by his captor that ran down his body in a steady wave, hardening as it did so._

_He dared not resist in the fear it would invoke retribution against him. He looked up timidly at the monster, a look of abject terror on his face. His mouth opened and closed like a clown's on a crazy golf course, and barely audible strangled squeaks could be heard coming from within._

_The Xenomorph stopped and lowered itself down, its continually drooling lips just inches from Kane's face._

_It hissed at him and he flinched away from it and closed his eyes. He was powerless to do anything and the Xenomorph, it seemed, could sense it. It continued to release the thick, sticky liquid over him until he was almost fully encased; only his head and feet still exposed._

_Finished, the Xenomorph climbed down and as one last show of superiority, it turned and leaned in close to him, its warm breath licking over his cheek making him sick with fear._

_And then it was gone. Its tail briefly swung over the top of the eggs, breaking the field that lay above them. Now it needed to find a way to the other humanoid. The parasites would take care of business here. _

_Kane broke down as it vanished out of sight. He had, for some reason, been reborn into this grotesque and nightmarish world. He couldn't understand how he could have found himself in a place like this- an underground network of tunnels that led to a place filled with... whatever those huge ovoid shapes were._

_Through his moist eyes, he scanned the area. The film that lay above the tops had made a high pitched hum like audio feedback as the monster brushed over the top of it. Now it was all quiet, just a thin mist providing a soft carpet around the ominous looking collection._

_The serenity would not be lasting._

_It wasn't long before Kane was introduced to a new nightmare and as his strong arms managed to crack the hardened case in which he was being held, the light was removed from his world and with it went his conscious mind._

_And once again, the P.R.M. kicked in. He would experience the smothering facehugger awake and fully alert; the grasp of its fingers; the tight grip of its tail coiled round his neck; and the slick, articulating tube it had stuck down his throat._

_His body spasmed weakly as the tears continued and he wondered how long he would have to endure this before his torment was put to an end..._

Elizabeth was sat with her back against the central control hub staring vacantly at the door. If it opened, she had decided she would just give herself to it freely. There was no point in prolonging her agony. The monster was surely just on the other side, feeding on the big man's carcass.

She felt no empathy for him at all. Nothing. She was numb. There was only so much she could take.

Her cup had runneth over.

As she sat she looked around the control room and over her shoulder. Something was different from last time.

It didn't take her long to realise what that was. It was the huge structure in the centre of the central hub: the 'jockey seat'. She had never seen one before. Even during her time on board the ship that she and David had flown together to the Engineer's planet, there hadn't been a need for one. David had flown by voice activation only. All his instructions had been as a result of what had been described visually by the holographic projector.

She climbed up onto the circular dais and walked around the side.

She froze as, for just a brief second, she thought the person sat in the chair was alive. It didn't take her long to work out who it was. The open chest wound gave her her answer. It was Yeshua. This is where his final moments had been.

She wondered for a second if he'd felt any pain.

She scoffed at the thought. She didn't care. If he'd suffered then that was how it had to be. She wasn't going to mourn him or feel any guilt. Maybe she would allow herself the liberty to grieve once she was free from the chaos in which she was currently immersed.

She looked up at him, "Not so brave now, are we?" She was surprised at how callous she sounded... but again, she didn't care. "Call _me_ slave, you son of a bitch?"

She stroked back her hair and wiped the sweat from her face. She hadn't realised just how much she had been perspiring. She was just thankful she now had time to relax. The crew were dead. Every single one of them. It was she who had been indirectly responsible for the deaths of all of them. Seven in total now including the Engineer on LV-223.

Her brow creased as she tried to summon up some kind of emotional response within her. _Feel something, damn it! You've done something amazing. You've beaten the odds. Feel proud of yourself._

"Shut up, Ellie. Just leave me be." She was shattered. She looked forward to stasis, for however long it would last.

_What to do now though_, she thought. She wasn't leaving the room; that was for damn sure! She really needed to find a way to communicate with the computer though. Maybe she could navigate the ship back home herself. "Computer." She said. She didn't understand the response.

"Please state your enquiry." It said in the unintelligible language.

She didn't dare say the other two words she knew: _Open _and _Close._ The monster was stood right outside the door, just waiting to pounce, its arms raised high like a dark, freakish vampire.

She repeated the computer's words distinctly: "Please. state. your. enquiry."

"Invalid query. Please restate question." It responded.

Elizabeth repeated its words once more: "Invalid query. Restate. question."

She knew it was an impossible task to make any progress this way, but her options were finite.

It said 'please' and 'state' twice. She chewed the words over in her head.

"Unknown command. Please restate." Said the computer.

"Elizabeth?"

"Shut up, computer." Said Elizabeth.

"Can you hear me?" It was speaking English.

"Computer?" said Elizabeth confused.

"David." Corrected David. "How is your physical status?"

"I'm fine." Said Elizabeth, the relief she was feeling was tremendous. "How are you? How much power do you have left?"

"Run time is no longer an issue, thankfully. I charged the ship's computer with the task of designing a substitute power cell. While the ship is running, I have unlimited life."

"David, that's fantastic." Said Elizabeth brightly. But first things first. "Where is the monster?"

"The Xenomorph is currently patrolling the corridors around the ship. I believe it may be looking for an alternative entrance to the control room in which you currently reside."

Elizabeth felt her body tense. "Do you have access to the ship's schematics- is it possible it can get in?"

"There are no secondary points of entry," David placated her, "you may rest easy."

Elizabeth smiled and fell to her knees. "Oh my god! I don't believe it. We did it. We're safe. I don't believe it."

"We may have one problem, however."

"What?" Elizabeth's question was meant as a request for him to reiterate what he meant, not what the problem may be.

David explained the problem nevertheless. "I have no access to the ship's flight controls."

"What?" Elizabeth was still discombobulated. She wanted happy thoughts, not hindrances.

"The computer needs an access code. I am not fully confident as to why this may be. Maybe the final crewmember locked out any access to the primary systems from alien life forms. Us, in other words." Explained David. "Though that may be stretching credulity."

Elizabeth thought about his words. "So we're going to be flying for a long time." She started to laugh. It was obvious, really. There had to be something to throw a spanner in the works. "Oh, bloody hell." She said dryly.

The computer interjected with a broadcast she didn't understand.

"What was that the computer just said?"

Without pause- "Impact in twenty minutes." It was as though David had no understanding of the gravity of his statement.

Elizabeth was silent, deep in thought and hoping for something more from him.

David did not elaborate further.

When she spoke, her voice was quiet, "Impact... in twenty minutes? That can't be good."

"Wait a moment." Said David.

Elizabeth was sure it must be a mistranslation. An equivocation maybe. Though what that may be, she had no idea.

She waited patiently for additional information from David.

"I think I may have come upon the reason I am locked out of flight controls. It seems Kane's final deed was to set us on a crash course. I believe this may have been due to the emergence of the Xenomorph and his impending death."

"So he _is_ dead now, right?" Elizabeth asked, almost sympathetically.

"Yes and no. The Xenomorph did indeed kill him in front of me, but his injuries repaired promptly. There is a device, which attached itself to him while they were battling. I would postulate this is some kind of portable tissue regenerator. The creature had initially caused significant brain injury. When he gained consciousness again- reanimated- he seemed to have no understanding of where he was."

Elizabeth saw the image of Kane running away from the monster, that look of terror on his face incongruent with the intimidating man who had walked into the Quarter minutes before. "There's little hope of him taking back control of the ship."

"I would have to concur with that conclusion." Said David.

Elizabeth thought through the impending events. All seemed dire to her, but she needed to be sure. "Will the ship be destroyed when we crash?"

"Wait one, please."

Once more, there was silence between them. The answer David gave to that question would decide their next course of action. If the ship was going to be destroyed, Elizabeth would sit down and pray to the god in whom she no longer believed; if the ship was not going to be destroyed, she would head for the stasis pod and wait for the Xenomorph to starve.

"I have good news and bad news, Elizabeth." Said David eventually.

"Just give it to me quickly. There's a timer on this." Elizabeth said impatiently.

"The ship will decelerate before impact to a speed that will cause catastrophic damage to the systems, making it unflyable."

"That's not too bad." Said Elizabeth.

"That was the good news." Said David.

Elizabeth sighed gravely. "What's the bad news?"

"There may be a fracture to the outer hull, and the system fail-safes will cause all internal doors to open."

"But I'll be safe in the stasis pod?" Elizabeth asked seriously.

"The atmosphere is not our biggest cause for concern." Said David. "If it survives the crash, the Xenomorph will have free rein of the whole ship. It will be able to gain access to any area it desires."

Elizabeth became pensive. "Is there _any_ good news, David? Please?"

"Life support will be unaffected. Stasis will remain fully functional." Reassured David.

"Thanks." There was little conviction in her gratitude, but there was a part of her that _did_ appreciate it. She looked down dejectedly.

David attempted to bring levity to the situation. "Would you say this is our World Series, Elizabeth?"

She laughed despite herself. "Maybe." She replied. "Game seven... and Nolan Ryan is pitching for the other team."

"That's a bad break." David determined.

"The worst." Agreed Elizabeth wryly.

"I must say, Elizabeth, your knowledge of baseball history is quite formidable."

"Baseball?" Said Elizabeth, "I thought we were talking about cricket."

"Aah, touché, Elizabeth." Said David appreciably, "Excellent wit."

She smiled, deep in thought. The clock was ticking. She knew she had to do something. Her hand had been forced. She had to go on the offensive, but she had no idea how.

"More bad news." Said David.

"Finally." Elizabeth said sarcastically. "I was beginning to think this was all just a beautiful dream."

"Yes." Said David flatly. "I have to remind you I am now running on ship's power. Once impact occurs, my systems will go down along with all others."

"Great." She became very sober. "David- we need to kill the monster before we crash. Or I'm going to die."

"I believe you may be right." Concurred David.

"Well then..." Elizabeth couldn't believe she was going to talk about entering the dragon's den voluntarily, but under the circumstances, she had very little choice, "We need an inventory check and we need to make a plan- for what it's worth. Chance favours the prepared mind after all."

As she jumped down from the central hub of the flight deck and started walking around to get her body prepared for what lay ahead, in the cargo hold, the facehugger's grip faltered around Kane's head and it fell to the floor, its purpose realised.

Kane looked at the view it had left him with. It was just a matter of time now before the dark shadow returned, and when it did, he was sure it would bring with it Death.


	16. The Xenomorph

**Chapter Sixteen: The Xenomorph**

_Using the ship's communication systems, David had guided her from the flight deck back to the living-quarters on deck two. He had been keeping a continual eye on the location of the Xenomorph using the holographic projector. It had loitered around the engine bay for a short time before systematically parading back through the ship's corridors._

_It had finally entered the flight deck, spending time circling around the areas where Elizabeth had been._

_Then it had set off at a rate, following Elizabeth's trail towards the quarters, before stopping suddenly. Its life-signs seemed to fluctuate as it remained motionless... before appearing again and heading back to the flight deck. Maybe it knew at a subconscious level, possibly passed down in some way as part of a memory from Yeshua that this was an area of importance and somewhere Elizabeth would need to access._

_David allowed it to wander wherever it wanted now. It had taken over ten minutes, but they were ready. He had asked the computer to scan his neural matrix and create an interface for him, which, along with the new power supply, would fail once the ship hit the planet it was heading for._

_The plan was ready to take effect._

"You won't be able to speak?" Asked Elizabeth.

"I'm afraid not. All my resources will be occupied sending and receiving information through the interface." Said David. "You won't need me to be able to speak. I'll illuminate the corridors; you won't get lost. You have seven minutes and thirty-nine seconds." He had been giving her reminders of the amount of time she had remaining at regular intervals.

"So this is goodbye then." Said Elizabeth, though the focus on the matter at hand kept her from becoming too emotional.

"It would appear so."

"Thank you, David. For everything." She looked like a small child next to the oversized table. It was designed on a different scale from those found on Earth and the surface was level with her chest.

"You're quite welcome. You remember how to activate the stasis chambers?" He asked.

She nodded and leaned over, kissing him on the forehead.

"I'm afraid the gesture is lost on me." David smiled apologetically.

"But not on me." Countered Elizabeth and she stroked his hair tenderly.

"Seven minutes and nineteen seconds." Said David, proving his own point.

Elizabeth exhaled like a boxer preparing for round one, lightly jogging from one foot to the other. "Hold on-" She said abruptly, "tell me again why I'm doing this." There was a frigid humour to her voice.

"You wanted an inventory check of all resources available." David reminded her, "You are one of those resources."

She stopped in sober acknowledgement. "Oh, that's right, isn't it?" She said. "Shit."

"And you don't want to die." He added.

"Thank you, David." _That, I don't need reminding of, _she thought.

The computer announced the seven minute warning.

"Seven." Said Elizabeth in her own language, counting down aloud with the ship to keep herself abreast of the clock.

David spoke as if ticking off a checklist. "I wish you luck, Elizabeth. Activating interface. Don't forget the Mitt." His expression froze in place and she heard his voice no more.

Elizabeth took the Ion Mitt from the table and inserted her hand inside. It was a very bad fit and hung loose, though the band around the wrist kept it from falling off.

She reached the door and looked outside at her escorts. She turned and raised her covered hand in a wave.

David blinked once in response giving Elizabeth the signal she needed to go forth.

To the left, as she exited the room, was darkness. To the right was the shepherding medium of light and two sturdy looking, eight-legged, cargo loaders, each limb about the thickness of her ankles. Their control centre that connected each extremity was about half the size of a washing machine with a curved surface for balancing assorted cargo on.

They were on standby, waiting for their orders, their arms reaching out high at a 45 degree angle offering a ready embrace to anyone who stood before them.

"Let's go." Said Elizabeth.

The loaders stood to attention, rising slightly and clapped their claws together twice in unison before scuttling off briskly along their illuminated path.

The way they walked made her smile. "Come to papa." She said quietly to herself.

The broad corridors of the vessel were just about wide enough to accommodate them side by side. There was very little reverberation coming from the floor, but Elizabeth judged, with the weight of the things, if they were walking along anything less sturdy, they would make a sound not unlike that of a large advancing army.

She just hoped the interface to which David had connected to control the machines was up to scratch. Any kind of lag and the Xenomorph would scale over them easily to get to her. She would be relying solely on the Ion Mitt to save her then.

She sniggered to herself as they turned a corner onto the next corridor, the thought that this was more like a funeral procession than a battle march. "I'm going mad." She said to herself. "Completely bloody insane."

One of the loaders stopped and Elizabeth went cold.

_This is it_, she thought. _It's here. I'm going to die._

The computer announced six minutes before impact.

"Six minutes." She said. "Six minutes to go."

The words were dull to her ears. It was like they were dead words exiting her body and falling to the floor where they fizzled away to nothing.

The loader marching on the left hand side continued and entered the stairwell to descend down to the lower deck where the control room was located. It was now that she noticed they had their own designations on their rears. The front loader had a single stroke; the second loader had a double stroke.

_One and Two._

Far too dreary. "Albert and Bertie." Twins. The names suited them.

Elizabeth leant forward onto the back of Bertie, his thick metallic structure firm and reassuring. From a distance, they just looked like something a child would put together with Meccano pieces. Up close, their design was powerful and robust.

Albert took the steps with ease. His movement was fluid and effortless. Bertie filed through behind his brother without delay, Elizabeth tagging along behind in an orderly fashion.

They took another left as they exited the stairwell, which took them along the way Elizabeth recognised as the corridor in which she had gotten lost whilst fleeing the scene of Kane's initial demise.

She saw him sprinting through her mind's eye, the Xenomorph in tow.

She no longer needed to imagine the monster now though; she would be face to face with it presently.

She reseated the sagging glove over her right hand ensuring the slack would not allow it to fall free. David had informed her this may be her best chance of killing the malevolent creature. A persistent pressure on one spot over its skull would more than likely rupture its external tissue layer; a continued application concentrating a build up of heat that would cause the blood inside its skull to boil... as long as the loaders could hold it steady.

The idea of getting so close that she could lay hands on it wasn't appealing, but then again, neither was the alternative.

She quickened her step to catch up to the loaders. David knew there was little time to waste and so was driving them forward with purpose. Elizabeth couldn't help but feel conflicted. She needed to hurry, but the saying: 'You'll be late for you own funeral' kept popping up in her mind.

She refastened the Mitt and for a second wondered what would happen if she scratched her nose with it. Would she knock herself cold? She shook it off. It was tantamount to sticking your finger into a live light fixture.

Never a good idea.

She almost ran into the back of Bertie as they stopped unexpectedly.

The lights to their front extinguished and the corridor behind them, which had gone dark, relit.

"What..." she was unsure and just a wee bit alarmed.

Bertie backed up and lowered his left arm down to usher her back to the wall while it about-turned and headed in the opposite direction. Albert lowered his arm down and prompted her to walk in front of him so she was between them. She felt like she could hear David's words_: The Xenomorph is on the move. Stay alert._

"Okay." She answered the words in her head as though they had actually been spoken aloud and if she'd been asked, she would have attested she had heard the words for real.

She looked back over her shoulder into the darkness as they set off back from where they come. She didn't think things could have become more worrisome, but it seemed she was wrong.

Bertie stopped.

The lights behind them illuminated again, though this time, the opposite direction didn't go dark. Though this was reassuring to her that she could see more, it also meant the monster was highly active. It obviously knew they were coming.

The voice made her jump. "Five minutes to impact." Said the computer.

"Jesus!" She berated herself for her blasphemy. "Sorry Lord." She shook her head. Now was not the time to feel conflict in her newly found disbelief.

Behind her, Albert did a 180 to face the opposite way.

"It's coming. I know it's coming. Where are you?" Her head shot from side to side in anticipation of the attack.

She thought she heard a sound, though she couldn't discern from which side.

Tentatively, Bertie took a few steps forward towards the nearest side-corridor, Albert backing up, though not turning round.

Elizabeth crouched down as though taking cover from enemy fire and put her hand on the back of Albert's central body.

She marvelled momentarily at the fact that his fuselage didn't resonate at all as he advanced. He was totally stable. Engineering precision at its finest. She almost began to feel motherly towards them, but maybe that was the change in her own anatomy during the early stages of pregnancy.

Again, the lights behind them went out and the twins sped up. They both clapped their claws, Elizabeth taking that as David trying to warn her they were ready to attack. It was as though they were excited. They were finally going to see some real action. No longer would they just be used to lift cargo. They were going to live their wildest dreams like a couple of twenty year olds in Ibiza. _From warehouse worker to warrior in one easy move._

She had to jog to keep up with them. She felt like she was running into the road blind-folded, but kept telling herself to have faith that David (and the boys) knew what they were doing.

_He'll protect me. He's on my side. _She wasn't a hundred percent behind these thoughts, but if he'd wanted to see her fed to the Xenomorph, she'd have little choice in the matter anyway. _He must be on my side._

"Four minutes to impact."

"Four minutes." She said to herself before a confused look came over her face. "Is that four? Did I hear five? Did I _say_ five?"

She _had _heard five, but she hadn't repeated it. She had the blasphemy indoctrination to blame for that little _faux pas_.

"It _is _four. I'm sure." She was sure she had left David no less than three minutes earlier. She ran their whole route through her head and decided it must be four-

The black shape ran along the ceiling in an unconventional mazy run. Albert took steps left and right to position himself correctly like a small child playing catch, its arms out wide in an uninspiring pose.

Elizabeth fell to the floor and ducked under the body of the machine. There was a thud as the Xenomorph and loader clashed. As they made contact, she couldn't believe that such a hefty contraption could be rocked so hard by the thing.

Albert's mechanisms ran silently, but there were scratching and scraping sounds being made by the Xenomorph.

And then it began screaming and hissing, though she was sure any noises it _was_ making were aimed directly at her.

Bertie closed in and pushed against the back of his brother, his arms pressed forward to gain his own access to the creature. He wanted in!

The Xenomorph screeched again and she heard its tail whip round violently, clunking against the side of the chassis.

As one, the two loaders moved forward with the nightmarish figure struggling on their backs. They were headed for one of the rooms off to the side of the corridor. If the creature's blood was going to be spilled, they had to ensure it would be in an area where Elizabeth didn't have to traverse later. No good killing the monster then failing to make it to the stasis pod due to her feet being eaten away by molecular acid.

As the machines cleared her, she stood and watched the Xenomorph as it scrambled to get away from them, its arms and body entangled by the arms of the two brothers. It was like a scene from a very old Doug McClure movie; a couple of giant crabs and a crazed dinosaur doing battle. All that was missing was a beachfront cave and a sexy girl in an animal-hide bikini.

She tightened the Mitt once more.

The time had come for her to join in.

They had managed to move the action to an adjacent room. As the lights came on, she could see it was a very large empty room that led on to many other smaller ones.

It was familiar. It didn't take long to realise why.

It was the selection area where she and the Followers had been paired with their methods of destruction, only now on a new ship. It was ironic: the beast that stood before her now was the same one that should have killed her then, just five hours earlier.

"Three minutes to impact."

"Three." Said Elizabeth, though her mind was now totally focussed on what she had to do.

Albert jolted suddenly, and in one deft move, the alien was free. It had escaped the claws and was set on acquainting itself more personably with Elizabeth.

It leapt at her and Elizabeth fell back onto the floor, her hands raised over her face in defensive posture.

The Xenomorph's leap was cut short as the pincers gripped it by the jagged tail. Albert had made immediate amends for his fumbling.

The Xenomorph had gotten to within just a few feet of her, its tongue shooting forward in a secondary attack, almost to within 'licking' distance, desperate to cause her some kind of damage.

Elizabeth pushed herself back away from it and once again it hissed menacingly at her.

"Three minutes to go." She sang shakily. "Three minutes to impact. Three minutes. Gotta squat the bug. Gotta be quick. Gotta kill it before it kills me. Stick the lightning glove on its head and fry the bastard till it's dead."

She raised herself back to her feet and held the glove forward like Van Helsing tormenting Count Dracula with a crucifix. The analogy was very apt and she almost gave in to the words: _the power of Christ compels you- the power of Christ COMPELS YOU!_

The animal wasn't secure though. It snapped round at its tail try to free itself, acidic blood spraying from a self-inflicted wound and onto Albert's claw.

Elizabeth could see what it was trying to do and begged they secure it again, quick.

Its tongue shot out again at its tail, releasing more acid as the two machines piled over it, their grip once again sure.

Elizabeth didn't waste any time. She moved in, only to be knocked back by one of Bertie's leg as he was repositioning himself.

The accident turned out to be providential as a drop of acid fell down, smoke already starting to rise from his metal hull.

Elizabeth had been warned by David to watch out for the volatility of the creature's blood. She hadn't quite taken in just how aggressive it was going to be. She thought it would be like an industrial strength bleach, causing burns to the epidermal layer only if treated promptly. What she saw before her was something much worse. Something to be avoided at all costs.

She circled round looking for a way in, aware of any splashes. She just needed to stun it in order to get a better shot at its head.

There were arms and legs flailing everywhere. She had to be patient, but the smoke was becoming more intense. The acid had begun penetrating quite deeply into one of Bertie's legs and she could see it was beginning to buckle. He had seven more of them, sure, but how long would it be before the acid affected the receiver to David's interface?

Time was running out. She still had to find the flight deck, enter a stasis chamber and program it for hypersleep. She had given up on the possibility of retrieving David in order to sleep alongside her. How long would it be before they would be reunited... if they survive?

The Xenomorph screamed and hissed and thrashed, and blood poured from its increasing number of wounds that were opening up as a result of its struggles.

Elizabeth knew she had to act. She had to act now!

She ran forward, hoping for blind luck. She just wanted to give it a shot.

She jumped up on top of Albert, the wriggling form close to her now, and slapped her hand down onto the Xenomorph's exoskeleton.

There was nothing. For a moment the Xenomorph was motionless, though this was probably from the surprise of being petted by the little humanoid.

Elizabeth pulled back her hand as the thrashing continued and placed it back down harder.

No. There was still nothing. It didn't work... and the damage being caused to the two machines was increasing ever more critically. The smoke was quite acrid and Elizabeth was forced to back away. She was at a loss.

As the computer gave its two minute warning, Bertie's acid damaged leg fell free and hit the ground with a clang that reverberated through her middle and up into her teeth. She looked at the sharp edge the acid had made as it cut through and there was an idea that she may be able to use it as a weapon in itself. An impaling weapon.

She rushed forward and tried to pick it up. Maybe if she could just get it off the ground, she could get a proper grip and use her body weight as a cantilever. But it was so heavy; too much for her fingers to pry it over.

She used her feet to try to roll it onto her hand so she could lift it from underneath... but it was useless. It was too big and weighty.

For a few seconds, she just stood and stared at the detached limb. This was it. She had played her cards and come up short. Somehow they had managed to come so close to a winning hand, but been beaten by a Royal Flush.

_These are my final moments, _she thought gravely_. You did ever so well, thanks for playing but you leave with nothing._

_Oh well, we came with nothing, we leave with nothing. We've had such a lovely day anyway. It's been a pleasure._

It was funny, wasn't it? Being English was all about laughing at your own misfortunes. You had to laugh. But not this time. She could find no humour in what was to befall her.

She looked up from the leg to the Xenomorph. The air was getting hazy around it and she could see Albert had now faltered. It wouldn't be long before Bertie joined it however determined he seemed to battle on alone.

Elizabeth decided she would finish things on her own terms. When it attacked, she would look it in the face- it had no eyes that she could see- and welcome what lay ahead with open arms. Maybe she would see her mother and father again, who knew? Maybe she would see Charlie. And maybe he would be waiting there holding the child that was growing inside her.

The creature's movements became less restricted as the acid cut further into Bertie's claws.

"One minute to impact." Said the computer.

Elizabeth smiled. "I have no idea what you just said. Three minutes? Two minutes? One minute? Who cares?!"

She stepped forward as the Xenomorph broke free. In one movement it became airborne, leaping in her direction, murderous intent at its most extreme.

She opened her arms wide, though her left arm was knocked forward inexplicably as she did so.

The sharp, broken leg of the loader was thrust powerfully forward beside her and into the Xenomorph's head, a thick spray of acid erupting from within the skull.

Kane roared in both effort and rage, but his momentary feeling of triumph as he gained retribution on the animal that had shown him such contempt earlier was immediately replaced by a holler of intense pain.

He stumbled back and fell to his knees as the smouldering acid ate away at his flesh. His rib cage became exposed as the tissues surrounding them broke down and fell away. His right eye disappeared into blackness along with the cheek beneath it and he put his hands up to his face, the acid eating away at his fingers as they touched while Elizabeth looked on in horror. He grimaced, the experience too intense for him to make a sound now. The regenerator was fighting a losing battle, struggling to replace the damaged areas at a rate close to their destruction.

Kane had saved her and for his heroics, he was paying the ultimate price. David had shown him the way from the dark of the cargo bay, lighting the corridors to where Elizabeth needed him, and there he had rediscovered his courage, but at a hefty price. Fate had been cruel to him since his rebirth and there would be no resurrection this time.

Finally, Kane's back arched and his chest thrust forward in an explosion of blood and from within, the Xenomorph pup broke free.

There was no shock anymore for Elizabeth. This was part of her normal daily toils; this was just another episode during the mayhem.

There was no conscious thought in what she did next; it was all instinct. She grabbed hold of the immature alien as Kane fell back to the floor, exposing it in one easy motion and extracting it clear of the body. It gave off a warbled cry, writhing and squirming in an attempt to escape her grip.

"Thirty seconds to impact. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven. Twenty-six."

Elizabeth recognised this as a countdown by the second. She estimated it as being from thirty. If not, she would probably soon be thrown across the room at a high rate of knots into an awaiting wall, breaking every bone in her body.

But David had presented the way back to salvation for her. She ran.

She had to hold the creature firmly at times with both hands, its outer membrane slippery, but dry in patches like a bar of soap before use. As she sprinted down the corridors, she could feel it trying to claw at her with underdeveloped appendages, but she wouldn't let go till she got to the stasis pod no matter how much the sharp ends dug in.

She entered the flight deck and the computer's words became shorter. This was surely the ten second countdown.

She jumped up onto the hub to the left of Yeshua and quickly lowered the Xenomorph to the floor, still gripping it tightly.

Her foot came down hard.

_The trick... is not minding that it hurts_

She screamed defiantly and heard the crack and squelch of its tiny skull, its tail trembling in one final death throw.

The pain was far greater than she had imagined as acid shot up against her heel consuming whatever it came into contact with and she lost her balance, falling towards the pod.

In her mind, she knew she had no chance. She hadn't been counting, but she was sure the number was down to four as she rolled into the chamber. It would take longer than that to punch in the correct order of key strokes before the canopy closed over the top of her, much longer with her arms shaking as they were as she tried to combat the burning sensation as her flesh and bones seared.

Through the pain and watering eyes, she reached over to set all in motion, but before she hit the first button, the top began to close by itself. She pulled her hand back, the thought that the pod was on automatic due to the imminent impact occurred to her until another voice informed her otherwise.

"I've got it, Elizabeth." Came David's words.

A feeling of serenity washed over her at hearing his voice. It was like hypnosis. The pain was gone. She held her breath.

The chamber sealed and David spoke to her one last time: "Sweetdr-"

The sentiment went unfinished. From inside the secured pod, the world seemed to vibrate for a second and David was cut off. She had a brief moment to feel anguish for him form a knot in the pit of her stomach.

And then darkness fell.

She placed her hands over her tummy as she felt herself fall into nothingness and spoke comfortingly to her unborn child- "We did it, baby... we won..."


	17. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Second Harvest**

**THE NOSTROMO**

The transmission from David was received. After the loaders had failed and Kane had destroyed the Xenomorph, David found he had time to disconnect from his interface and send one final message to Weyland Industries. They would now have the approximate location of the final resting place of the alien ship.

The machinations of the company's hierarchy went into hyperdrive. 'The Perfect Organism'. 'The Ultimate Weapon'. 'A Substantial Dollar Value'. It was as though they had discovered the secret for the greatest, most knee trembling orgasm ever experienced... it would be a metaphorical erection the military could dangle over the heads of their enemies like an intimidating Sword of Damocles.

They had to move quietly. This had to be _their_ discovery only. If their competitors got wind of something groundbreaking in a nearby star system, things could get very tight indeed.

They needed a cover for their recovery mission. Something not out of the ordinary.

How about a deep space mining vessel with an expendable crew? How about the Nostromo?

The Nostromo launched, only one of the crew, the newly attached Science Officer, Ash, aware of the primary objective. The rest of the crew were oblivious. Their return was not expected for another two years. But it had already been forty years since the origin of David's signal so what was two more years, really?

The journey out was uneventful. Ripley had cried occasionally during her waking hours about her daughter. While she would only experience a few weeks of the mission out of stasis, her daughter would be without her for a few years. A lifetime to a child. She had considered the possibility of having her put into 'cryo' so their parting wouldn't be so affecting, but the financial cost would be vast. She decided this would be her last mission.

Amy would have her mother back forever after that.

The Nostromo exited higher than light speeds as it approached LV-426 and deactivated the hypersleep chambers.

"We've received a transmission." Dallas had told them.

The primary mission was soon put into effect. A dropship was sent down to investigate and the trio of Captain Dallas, Executive Officer Kane and the ship's Navigator, Lambert set out on foot.

They entered the control room after searching through the corridors and found the fossilised body of Yeshua still resting in the Jockey's seat, the hole from where the Xenomorph had exploded out still prominent amongst his fossilised remains.

Not ten metres away, unnoticed at the side of the hub, Elizabeth slept.

She slept as they ventured further into the wreck to satisfy the Executive Officer's insatiable curiosity.

She slept as Kane, the human, penetrated the laser sheath that lay atop the hundreds of eggs.

She slept as Dallas and Lambert dragged Kane's unconscious body back to the dropship.

She slept as Ripley argued with Ash about quarantine procedures.

She slept as the dropship lifted off with the Xenomorph growing inside Kane.

And she slept as the crew were almost fully wiped out.

It would be almost sixty years before anyone returned.

**HADLEY'S HOPE**

The Weyland-Yutani terraformers arrived almost forty years later, the knowledge of the alien creature lost during the merger with the Yutani Corporation. Expeditions to explore the surface of the planetoid were restricted by the rocky terrain and inhospitable atmosphere.

Twenty years passed by before the discovery of the Nostromo's life-boat and its one surviving member. For Carter Burke, the Special Projects Director of the Weyland Yutani Special Services Division, this was his big opportunity. A chance to make a name for himself, and with it, money beyond his wildest imaginings. He was a man unhindered by feelings of social empathy. What mattered to him most was the acquisition of power and wealth.

But he wasn't going to make the journey himself. Ripley might well be as emotionally dysfunctional as he was. Her hearing with the company had signalled as much. Better to send a message to one of the survey teams of the whereabouts of the supposed alien ship's location.

The coordinates were received and the go ahead was given to see if Ripley's story was true. It was. The 'Wildcatters', Ann Jorden and her husband, Russ, entered the ship and searched for salvageable materials.

The corridors showed few signs of deterioration. They discovered the body of the Weapons Officer, Kane, lying near two badly damaged loaders, a putrid mess covering the area where the Xenomorph's structure had broken down. Kane's body was disfigured terribly, obviously crushed by the two bulky machines on impact with the planet.

They pressed on, quickly locating the cargo hold. Jackpot! It was filled with organic ovoids of a kind they had never seen before. They were all theirs. The colony manager had reassured them so.

As Russ was dragged back to the Eight-Wheeler by his wife, where their two children sat bickering, Elizabeth slept.

Elizabeth slept as the alien Queen broke free from Russ's chest and waged a decimating war on the colony.

**THE SULACO**

Burke would oversee the mission. A retrieval mission, under the guise of a mission of rescue.

Ripley returned, not as a Warrant Officer, or as a Third Officer as she had been on the Nostromo, now just as an advisor to a squad of Colonial Marines, led by Lieutenant William Gorman to investigate the sudden loss of communications with the colony on LV-426.

Elizabeth slept as Bishop examined the dead parasites; as the Xenomorphs attacked; as Carter Burke betrayed the humans; and as Ripley went in search of the little girl, Newt.

She slept as the dropship made its escape, as the nuclear reactor powering the colony reached meltdown and exploded, exterminating all Xenomorphs in Hadley's Hope.

Her sleep, it seemed, was destined to never end...

**DATE: 24/08/81**

***CONFIDENTIAL: 'LEVEL 5' EYES ONLY***

**ONGOING INVESTIGATION INTO TERRESTRIAL INFESTATION BY ALIEN LIFE-FORM CLASSIFIED 'XENOMORPH'. ANALYSIS OF DATA INTO LOCATION OF INITIAL OUTBREAK.**

**TRANSCRIPT No.178, FROM SALVAGE VESSEL 'SLICK WILLY'**

**CRAFT TYPE: CASTOR-BELLATRIX (50-250LY)**

**REGISTERED TO THE STARLING CORPORATION**

**CREW: 12 [3 MALE; 5 FEMALE; 4 OTHER]**

**COMMANDING OFFICER: CAPTAIN NATASHA RIVERA**

**MISSION LAUNCHED: 23/04/79**

**CREW TIME OUT OF HYPERSLEEP (MEAN): 48 DAYS**

**CREW TIME OUT OF HYPERSLEEP (LONGEST): 61 DAYS, CHIEF ENGINEER SAMUEL JAKANDE**

**LAST KNOWN LOCATION: PLANETOID LV-426. 56 MILES SOUTH-WEST OF ABANDONED TERRAFORMING COLONY, 'HADLEY'S HOPE' (WEYLAND-YUTANI CORPORATION. DEFUNCT- 2321 CE).**

**AUDIO LOG DATED: 13/09/80**

**START TIME: 09:38**

[MECHANICAL SOUND]

WALKER: Miss? Can you hear me?

[SILENCE]

WOMAN: (inaudible) (groggy) are you human?

WALKER: What?

WOMAN: Are you human- from Earth?

WALKER: Yeah, we're human. Most of us anyway. Some of the guys in Utilities- bit retarded, but I think we can call them human. [SILENCE] You from Hadley's Hope?

WOMAN: Hadley's Hope? I don't know what that is.

WALKER: It was-

WOMAN: How long- when- what year is it?

WALKER: 2680.

WOMAN: (inaudible)

WALKER: How long you been here?

WOMAN: '93. Erm...

WALKER: Shit. 2593?

WOMAN: 2093

WALKER: Holy f-. Hate to tell you this but you've been asleep for like... 600 years. Whoever built this ship built it to last. I don't recognise it. Which company you with?

WOMAN: Weyland.

WALKER: Weyland? Weyland... can't say I've heard of them.

BATES: (inaudible)

WALKER: They must have gone under during the wars.

WOMAN: They're all dead.

WALKER: No shit they're dead. They'd be 600 year old, right?

WOMAN: I'm thirsty. Do you have a drink?

WALKER: 'Got a guy in Canada born in the 22nd century, I think. Here you go...

WOMAN: Thanks.

[DRINKING SOUND]

WALKER: Hey, let's get you to our ship. Get some hot food inside you. Tastes like shit, but it's hot. You ain't eaten for-

WOMAN: That'd be good- my foot.

WALKER: Your foot...? Hurt?

WOMAN: Was hurt. Nothing. It's fine. Chamber took care, I guess.

WALKER: Sure.

BATES: (inaudible)

WOMAN: Here.

WALKER: Thanks. Hey, wasn't Weyland a big name in terraforming in the olden days?

BATES: Huh?

WALKER: 'Weyland'... something like 'Weyland'... I bet they settled this rock?

BATES: Never heard of them (inaudible).

WALKER: Wasn't that Weyland?

WOMAN: (inaudible)

WALKER: Are you okay? You seem a bit shaky.

WOMAN: I'm pregnant.

WALKER: Hey, congratulations. [SILENCE] Oh. [SILENCE] I guess the father... he's not... around anymore.

WOMAN: No. He's dead.

WALKER: Sorry about that. (whispered) Oz!

BATES: Yeah, sorry (inaudible).

WALKER: Well you can always remember the guy. Name the kid after him, right?

BATES: You thought of a name?

WOMAN: Charlie, maybe. [SILENCE] Or David.

WALKER: That sounds great.

BATES: How far gone are you?

WOMAN: What?

WALKER: What?

BATES: The baby. You don't show.

WOMAN: I'm about five hours. That'll be about a week. Makes no difference now.

WALKER: Right... say, let's get you to our ship, okay? Get you packaged and freeze dried if you like.

BATES: Freeze dried. Fuckin' place is like a-

WALKER: Oz! Turn your goddamn mic off.

BATES: (inaudible)

**END TIME: 09:42**

**START TIME: 09:47**

CHAN: Hey, how goes it with you?

WALKER: On our way back to Willy.

CHAN: You find anything?

WALKER: Yeah, you'll never believe it. We found a girl. A really old one.

CHAN: That's great. [SILENCE] An old girl.

WALKER: She's pregnant.

CHAN: That's some fast work, Billy. Trying to get me jealous?

WALKER: Whoa.

CHAN: No one cares. I'd get you to at least buy me a drink first. Anyway, while you've been schmoozing, we had a look round here ourselves.

WALKER: You find anything?

CHAN: Well, we did as a matter of fact. A whole cargo hold full of these large egg-like things. It's like a goddamn Easter Egg Hunt.

WALKER: That's great, Heid. I'm real hungry.

CHAN: Me too. But I don't think you'd want to eat these. They're real nasty looking. Like they could give you killer heartburn.

WALKER: Well, tell you what, why don't you put a few in a basket and bring them over to the ship. We'll have a look-see.

CHAN: Roger, boss. Sounds like a job for my friend Ex. Right, Ex?

EXETER: Thank you, Heidi.

WALKER: Make sure you give Nat a heads up before you get back.

CHAN: (inaudible) ... yeah.

WALKER: See you back at the ship.

CHAN: Love you.

WALKER: Not over the comms, Heidi.

CHAN: No one cares, Billy.

**END TIME: 09:49**

[END TRANSCRIPT]

**CURRENT STATUS OF SALVAGE VESSEL, 'SLICK WILLY': MISSING, CONSIDERED DESTROYED...**


	18. Author's Notes

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILERS ALL THE WAY THROUGH.

ONLY READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I WROTE THE EVENTS IN THIS STORY. THIS ISN'T WRITTEN WITH ANY FINESSE. IT'S JUST AN OUTLINE OF WHY I WROTE WHAT I WROTE. NOT WORTH READING IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN WHY IT WAS WRITTEN.

WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS- DON'T BOTHER READING THIS!

If you do, however, and you have any questions regarding the story, ask me in the review section and I'll update these notes with the pertinent answer. Can't say fairer than that.

Now, onto the story...

**The Harvest**

It was originally going to be called 'The Festival of the Gods'. Then 'The Harvest of the Gods'. Finally I decided to just call it 'The Harvest', as I already had a story with 'to the Gods' in the title. My first story was called 'Ellipsis _to the Gods'_, which no one liked.

(which one person liked*)

There are elements of the character of the first story in this first chapter. It took about three chapters before I got the tone right.

**Chapter One: The Selection**

I had no idea what I was going to write about, other than it would be centred around the Engineers. I wanted them to have human qualities, like the ability to have fun with each other, but also wanted them to have some serious superiority complexes with respect to all other life forms. I also wanted them to have warmth towards each other as juxtaposition to their aggression at everything else.

Then I thought how interesting it would be to see their Bio-weapons fight each other. So I decided it would be a contest to the death, till only one remained.

I would therefore need sacrifices for the weapons to be gestated from.

It was only when I reached the last Follower that I thought about introducing Elizabeth into the story to see where that went.

And if I had Elizabeth, I thought it would generate more possibilities if David was with her.

I had no idea who was going to be the main protagonist at this point. It could still even have been an Engineer.

Having Elizabeth be paired with the facehugger gave me a chance to explore just what happens when a facehugger attacks and what the processes around gestation were like.

**Chapter Two: The Feast**

I wanted the Engineers to show their personalities and their human side.

I wanted to give them names that were from human mythology. I should have given a Hindu name too and a Greek/Roman name. I went wrong on that. And it completely slipped my mind that Kane was a prominent character in Alien.

(god knows how I forgot that)

I wanted to show more of their empathy and affinity for each other and their belligerence towards everyone else. I wanted them to seem quite fascist and Islamist in nature. Fascists and Muslims in themselves aren't bad people, it's only when you have other ideologies besides theirs that they become so 'disagreeable'.

I wanted to show just how old these people could be without any noticeable ageing due to their technologies.

Wanted to end the chapter with the reader not knowing if the facehugger had laid its seed within Elizabeth and that the next chapter would be about the chestburster exploding from her chest.

**Chapter Three: The Seeding**

The events leading up to the end of chapter two that we hadn't seen...

Wanted David to be awe-struck by the creature, juxtaposed against Elizabeth's mortal terror. (Her terror didn't really stop from this point until the third or fourth chapter of the sequel story).

We saw that David was able to understand the Engineer's language after learning it on the alien ship on the way to their planet. We already knew just how adept he was at learning and translating from Prometheus.

I wanted to show that Elizabeth was a very accomplished survivor as her quick thinking and instincts saved her at the last second here. It showed how David knew how to lay an idea in her head and for her to act on it.

I was eager to show that David didn't need a mouth to speak and introduced his auditory speakers. He then explained the process with which the facehugger paralysed its prey with a neural inhibitor and deposited the Xenomorph seed. (There has never been an explanation as to why the victim always loses consciousness when attacked by a facehugger. It feeds him oxygen, so why does he pass out? This was also something I wanted to explore later when the Xenomorph attacks. Why do the victims always wake up in the facehugger nests? Why do they lose consciousness when attacked by a Xenomorph? I'll get back to this last question in chapter 15, I think).

I also had to justify why the Engineers allowed her to keep the robot head. They are so hubristic, they don't consider any other lifeform to be a threat.

**Chapter Four: The Invitation**

Wanted Elizabeth to have a little paranoia towards David. He had been quite inconsistent in his morals during Prometheus and I wanted this to continue through this story.

I wanted to show David's complete lack of empathy as he doesn't understand human emotions.

I wanted Elizabeth to show resolve by the way she made dark, humorous observations. She showed courage by leaving the Seeding Room and heading for the Presentation Duct.

**Chapter Five: The Bonding**

More chance to establish character and the genetic traits of the Engineers. We also heard about the Bio-weapons abilities.

It was at this point I decided Yeshua would be the main alien protagonist/antagonist. If this hadn't been a chapter play, I would've changed Yeshua's name with Kane's as Kane is later resurrected. (Yeshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus. I would've also changed the name Kane for something else so as not to cause confusion with the Science Officer from Alien).

We heard more about the superiority of the Xenomorph.

By giving Yeshua sole control of Elizabeth, this gave me a chance to centre more on Yeshua's character.

**Chapter Six: The Arena**

I wanted to show how old the Engineer's species was. Being 4 billion years old would mean they would have access to almost unlimited technology. We also found out exactly why there was The Games; why the Engineer's created life; and why they wanted to destroy it, as well as how the humans were created.

It gave me more chance to focus on Kane. I decided I wanted to use him as a formidable character and set up a fight between him and a bio-weapon.

We found out about how they felt about The Games and the creatures they had chosen.

I then explored how they felt about further mistreating lesser life forms and Yeshua's innocent curiosity towards torture. I didn't want him to seem scheming or nasty. Just curious and eager to learn.

**Chapter: Seven: The Fallen**

I should have called this chapter 'The Games' and the next one 'The Fallen'.

Elizabeth and David's initial attempts to find a way to escape and the start of the fighting in The Games. Yeshua's obsession, yet contempt for Elizabeth. Yeshua's hubris causing his imminent demise.

Showed how advanced and fast the replicator tables are.

Elizabeth once again showed how smart she was and how cool she could be under pressure when she play acted to trick Yeshua into drinking the solution with the Xenomorph seed in it.

We later found out how hard Elizabeth could be with regards to wanting the Engineers to die if there was no other way for her and David to escape alive.

**Chapter Eight: The Games**

Described more of the Engineer's genetically modified species and their attitudes towards the rest of the galaxy.

Alluded to something David had done to aid his and Elizabeth's escape.

Had a dream sequence just to disorientate Elizabeth and the reader. She's saddened by her return to reality, but then encouraged by David's announcement he has FULL control of the ship.

Unseen by the crew is the deactivation of the transparent dome setting up the change in mission priorities.

**Chapter Nine: Liberation (Part One)**

A couple of things:

I'd intended on naming each chapter with the definite article 'The'. I decided to just call this chapter 'Liberation'.

I was a bit thick when it came to the construction of my chapters. When I wrote 'Ellipsis to the Gods', I found I couldn't partition my chapters and struggled to get any breaks so I could go from one scene to another within a chapter. I later found that I could centre the text and number each sub-chapter. This is why the chapters were so short and from only one real perspective. It's also why I split this chapter into two.

I feel extremely dumb.

Anyway, more of how close the crew are and Yeshua's obsession with Elizabeth and Odin's fatherly feelings for Yeshua.

A chance for the huge Engineers to fight the ferocious bio-weapons.

**Chapter Ten: Liberation (Part Two)**

A mention of the biped and then nothing more to set up what happens later.

I mentioned the size of the Engineer's ship as the Engineers are on a different scale to humans.

I wanted Elizabeth to feel disoriented as she heard sounds, but didn't know where they were coming from. Tried to build the tension as she had to wait for David to re-calibrate the direction they were to go in.

David shouted stop as he had seen the biped. Elizabeth thought he had seen Asherah and I hoped this would misdirect the reader along with Elizabeth so when Asherah attacked and the biped pounced, it would be a surprise as she writhed around on the floor.

This also gave me a chance to play with our confusion as to which team David is actually batting for. There's always something behind what he does, and we never know if he's on our side or just his own. It's why I loved his character so much in Prometheus. He was so enigmatic.

Again, we see that he is just very, very intelligent and knows how to manipulate most situations.

Asherah had no chance during the fight as she had been caught by surprise. Baal fought well and was unlucky to be killed. Again, I wanted to show just how powerful and capable the Engineer's actually are so the fight between Kane and the Xenomorph would be sporting.

The final part of the escape from the ship was something that went in many different ways. I wanted the only route available to the Engineers to be over ground. I originally was going to have Yeshua and Odin travelling and having to buddy use a mask just like a diver. Because it was taking too long, Odin tells Yeshua to take it alone and go on while Odin went back to the ship (them both knowing Odin wouldn't be able to make it back without asphyxiating). Then finally when the chestburster emerges, we think Elizabeth will have to fight the Xenomorph with David, but Odin appears unexpectedly, only for the Xenomorph to appear behind him and they fight.

This changed subtly so that Odin became Kane (as I thought Kane was tougher) and we didn't know Kane had survived the fight with the Polymorph. His appearance would be totally unexpected.

**Chapter Eleven: The Ultimate Survivor**

Yeshua had saved the day. He was already thinking about the mission ahead. I wanted to explain the process of global annihilation. It would be tough and lonely, but he would prevail... until the chestburster cramped his style causing his premature demise.

David sustained more damage and Elizabeth seemed to accept her captivity, though she was mighty hungry.

The cargo loaders loaded the cargo bay with Xeno-eggs. (ready for LV-426).

I had to get Yeshua to remove Voice/DNA recognition so that when he died, the ship would be available to others to control, though this would have been possible by the computer resetting once he was dead as I did anyway later on.

No life signs on Alpha. This was because they were all dead, apart from Kane who was unconscious on board Bravo. Yeshua didn't check for Engineer life signs on his new ship. He didn't think anyone could've made it over ground.

Half an hour to load 300 eggs with 30 queens amongst them. Sufficient to destroy a planet.

His lips dried as he started his flight, but he thought this was the stress of his first command. Then heartburn. But he knew an hour in a stasis pod would be enough later to regenerate his cells.

The scan was swift along with the results and explosion from his lower thorax.

Then we are back with Elizabeth. She hears a scratching, though it isn't a scratching, it's David's tinny voice from his auditory speakers once more. He now has less than twenty minutes of runtime due to the latest damage so we know the end for him is nigh.

We then find out what the words were that wound up Asherah so much. I liked that it was something so esoteric as 'giant fungus' that got her so offended.

Elizabeth fell asleep and had to relive the horror of where she was when she woke up. A long description of her pain.

And then light. A large man enters (though we know it can't be Yeshua).

It's was Kane. And he looked really pissed off.

**Chapter Twelve: The Perfect Organism (Part One)**

Another two-parter due to my inability to use properly.

We get an explanation of how Kane had got to the second ship. His fight alongside Odin. Odin's valiant death and Kane killing the Polymorph. Kane is obviously a tough puppy. The desperation to stop Elizabeth, knowing he will surely die trying.

Our first introduction to the medical droid deployment during medical emergency. It hadn't worked for Baal as the computers were down.

Kane discovers Yeshua is dead. He wants revenge on the hybrid.

We finally reach the point where the previous chapter finished and now was the time to make the next reveal- the fully grown Xenomorph, even bigger than a normal Xenomorph as it had come from only one person: Yeshua.

**Chapter Thirteen: The Perfect Organism (Part Two)**

Had to set up how the derelict vessel on LV-426 crashed there. Could only think that a ship so advanced as this would crash only if intentionally ordered to do so. Had to find a way to alert Weyland Industries as to the existence of the Xenomorph. The resting place of the vessel was something I had to work out later.

Had to give Kane the possibility of something that might even up the fight- the portable regenerator and the Ion Mitt. Without this, the result of the fight would be academic.

I wanted to give Kane a good shot to show just how mighty the man was. Maybe if the Xenomorph was from a normal human, not a huge Engineer, his chances would have improved somewhat, but this was a good fight. It was a good day to die as the Klingons say.

Elizabeth's escape was going to be tough.

After reading this chapter, I realise how much I like it. I was quite nervous before I wrote it that I wouldn't do the Xenomorph (and Kane) justice. Maybe end up writing it like a six year old would. Unlike me to like my own writing.

Enough.

**Chapter Fourteen: The Labyrinth**

I'd hoped that the fight against the Xenomorph would be the end of Kane, but with the introduction of the regenerator, I sort of messed that up. _Of course it would reanimate him._ If he came back the same as he always was, I think it would have been quite annoying, so I gave him brain trauma and the erasure of his memories.

Entered further into the struggle within David's mind that I think would have been going on since they arrived on LV-223 on board Prometheus.

Elizabeth was lost and terrified. I wanted the absolute terror with which she now found herself to be something that was paralysing.

I had a Xenomorph related dream years ago (one of about half a dozen, ALL amazing!) and in it there was a long corridor which I was moving towards. All of a sudden, a Xenomorph sprinted past the end. There was a few seconds and it appeared again after doubling back and came for me. Kane being chased by the Xenomorph, briefly seen by Elizabeth was me plagiarising my own dream. I had a recent Xenomorph dream on Christmas eve- Xenomorphs, Predators, the Na'vi from Pandora (avatar) and humans. Probably the most entertaining dream I've ever had.

When Kane emerges the next time with the Xenomorph closer behind, I wanted Elizabeth's escape to be unbelievably close. Elizabeth had heard Yeshua speak a few chapters earlier and here struggled to remember which were the correct words.

She was finally safe...

**Chapter Fifteen: Breathing Space**

We never see what happens to the Xenomorph victims that aren't killed. We never see how they lose consciousness or how they get stuck before the facehuggers attack.

I wanted Kane to have no idea where he was or why all these things were happening to him.

I had to show that he cracked the casing that held him in so that there were no questions for later about how he got out.

I originally thought about letting the PRM destroy each Xenomorph seed that was deposited so that there would be relentless facehugger attacks, all while Kane was conscious.

Elizabeth is by now getting tired of the relentless terror and need to escape things. She's lost the ability to feel anything for anyone, including herself. The only thing she felt was anger at Yeshua. And relief.

Her dark feelings were completely blown away by the positivity she felt hearing David's voice. He had unlimited battery life and therefore she knew she would be home soon. When David tells her the 'monster' can't get to her, she is feeling complete relief. The feeling didn't last as David then told her he couldn't fly the ship. This was necessary or else the vessel wouldn't have to crash on LV-426.

Then the words by the computer "Impact in twenty minutes." Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

The good news David then delivers is by all accounts very bad news, but the bad news is even worse. The doors will open and the Xenomorph will have full access to all parts of the ship. I needed to have something that would necessitate Elizabeth fighting the Xenomorph and they had to do it before the crash, or David would not be able to help.

**Chapter Sixteen: The Xenomorph**

The chapter we've all been waiting for and the one I really didn't want to mess up.

The Xenomorph was wandering around, but always near the flight deck.

I didn't want David to be able to speak as I was still deliberating whether or not to allow Kane to survive at the end. (more on that at the end)

We needed a countdown by the ship to remind us we had limited time and hopefully increase the tension.

The illuminated corridors gave me a chance to be able to channel Elizabeth in the right direction and also helped with Kane later (though I didn't know I was going to do this for Kane at this point).

I thought it would be right for Elizabeth to say her goodbye and thank David.

I gave her the Ion Mitt. I had no intention of allowing it to work. It had to be a dud in her hands so we would think she was definitely screwed before Kane- (more on that later).

The Cargo Loaders from chapter 11 I think. These may have been an unconscious plagiarism of the power loaders Ripley drove in Aliens, though that wasn't on my mind when I thought of them being used to fight the Xenomorph. I had no idea how Elizabeth was going to fight them even in the previous chapter. I did an inventory check of everything she would have access to and thought I'd have to cheat by creating a weapon for her. I hate cheating though and so had to think hard what she could use.

An interface created by the facsimile machine that could be used by David to control two cargo loaders remotely. Perfect.

As I was writing the chapter, it got really annoying referring to the loaders as the forward one, or the rear one or the one on the right hand side. It was only after writing the chapter fully and reading it through, I thought of giving them names. Solved all the clumsy problems.

Then the lights went out and the loaders repositioned themselves. I wanted the suspense to rise as the lights illuminated on either side so we didn't know from which direction the Xenomorph what attack. This caused further confusion for Elizabeth as she lost track of the time remaining.

Then the Xenomorph attacked.

The story was going to end where the story started, in the Selection Room. (though on a different ship)

The Mitt didn't work.

She couldn't lift the sharp leg that fell off Bertie.

Albert and Bertie (yes, I know they're the same name) died.

Elizabeth waited for death.

Then Kane saved the day. David led him here by illuminating the corridors. Kane would want to be where there's light. Finally he got the courage to kill the Xenomorph.

But he had no time to feel pride in himself.

It was at this point, I was going to have Elizabeth hurt badly by acid and Kane would have to carry her to the flight deck as she urged him on. He wouldn't be able to understand her and this was why I didn't want David to be able to speak so he couldn't translate her words for him. It would all be very desperate.

In agony, she would direct him to go to the flight deck, all the while Kane wouldn't know why, but just that he had to be fast as she was urging him forward quickly.

When they arrived on the flight deck, he would hear the countdown (which he himself could understand) get down to 10. Elizabeth would roll into the stasis pod and tell him frantically to get in another one. But he would just stare at her before looking up at where the computer voice was coming from, a look of no comprehension on his face.

All would go black and we wouldn't know whether he survived.

As it was, the baby Xenomorph broke free from Kane's body after he killed the Xenomorph and he got badly injured by acid. Elizabeth grabbed it and ran for the stasis pod alone.

She had little chance of surviving, but there was one last goodbye and piece of assistant David would give her, saving her life for the final time in the story.

**Epilogue: Second Harvest**

After writing the epilogue I decided I'd write a sequel with the same name as this chapter. I realised I wanted to know what happened to the crew I'd introduced and what happened to them.

We finally found out how Earth first found out about the alien ship, where it was and what was on board.

There was reference to Ripley's daughter. We discover she had a daughter in the special edition of Aliens.

We discover that the huge alien in the Jockey Seat is Yeshua and that Elizabeth is in a stasis pod close by, but not spotted as the three crewmembers of the Nostromo were distracted by Yeshua.

The document at the end of the epilogue which contained the transcript was something I'd written out in prose earlier, but decided would be more interesting in transcript form and being studied as an investigation document from a year later.

Once written, I then had to work out who these people were and what happened to Chan in the cargo hold.

Onto the sequel- _Second Harvest..._


End file.
